Hawks in Kansas Fly the Flint Hills

Along a 5-mile stretch of flint hills back roads, I saw 6 hawks. At least 2 were redtailed, and 2 were juveniles. I took some pics with my canon powershot sx30 is. What i really want to do is lay in the grass and be there when they arrive; get some really good pictures.

 There are a lot of raptors photos posted in this blog. Like juvenile red-tailed HERE and bald eagle HERE; or go to the search box on the right and type in hawks or vultures or raptors or eagles. click HERE to see the beautiful KSU Hawk.

 Click on pic to view large

click HERE to see the habitat around this road.

Sweetest Fridays as Winter Arrives a Wee Bit Early: Eagles, Hawks and the Flint Hills

The big raptors are about today. Singly and in pairs, they sit atop poles or nestle down on a good treebranch.  at the bottom of this post i added a bald eagle perching a mile from my house. (click pic to enlarge.)  New Large Bald eagle click HERE

The flint hills
are cold,
   stiff
brisk

alive with movement as everything-

the smallest mammals

 to

  bald eagles

moves around, looking for lunch, getting dinner, find some straw,
get a drink, get eaten.
Those dang Meat-eating animals-
Animal-eating animals.
Thats what they are, they're just ANIMALS!
I wonder why they hate the planet...

  

I saw all kinds of big birds today: red-tailed hawks, giant brown hawks/or eagles with white bellies (although i'm sure that's not their stage name), a bald eagle, soaring, they're always soaring-some Giant Crows-

Vulture at Tuttle Creek Res

And all help themselves, as do the vultures, to a little Fast Food. [That's why Benny Franklin wanted the Wild Turkey instead of the carrion-eating Bald Eagle as the Country's Symbol-a Yechh factor of carrion eaters. although NOW we know them as Beauties}  click on pic to enlarge

bald eagle in the field last summer

two vultures over the lake last summer

The raptors are very touchy.
Even coming out to the porch casts a shadow that will provoke them to leave a perch or a catch instantly. I will have to sit in the truck as a blind someday.
I will get some boxes of granola bars and red wine for warmth, extra batteries, big blankets, select CDs,
and ponder the layout, park the truck
in the perfect spot and make like a duck hunter.

In all ways except the point.

Can We Try Hunting? by Mary Todd

Grow me to eat me,
or hunt me in the wild?

Would it be better to live a cloistered crowded life before being quickly slaughtered,
grown to eat, like a tomato,
[never would have been born if not for the market,]
or
live a Great Wild Migratory life and have the risk and tragedy of being shot out of the sky?

Why do some animals eat meat?
Do they GET to eat meat or do they Have to eat meat?
And the Human?


It is interesting to drive into town and see the Big Birds are here too, why not? (Not as touchy, though.) Go where dinner is.
One of three videos from 2 years ago of a Hawk eating in the Citay



I am leaving
to take some video at an overlook of theTallgrass Prairie, hearted in the Flint Hills.
I will update this post
with the film later.
and add some other raptor photos.
right now-

there is a small wind;
there is a hum or shiver or movement in everything in The Hills-
it seems like something should be captured--atmosphere so fresh and cyclic, or  .
It feels like a special day in the air, in the ground; the water is whiterusched frothyfrozen white. I could hardly complete the drive into town. Hoss was trying to go the other way...

Birdlight by mary todd

“I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid."

Martin Luther King Jr.

Bald Eagle sat for a while surveying. I di dnot bother it much; hoping it will come back to this tree when i have a better camera with me.

Winter Birds, Redtailed Hawks, and A Dog Who Forgets Me plus Yesterday's Moon

A day
    a funny round bright spot in the sky,
                                illuminating all the earth's stuff.
new batts in the cam.
A sweet
             Sweet dog
    who loves and is loved by me, who seems to forget who i am every time we meet.
so every time he crosses the road to see what's what, he has to go through his
 "Do I Trust You" routine.
he is HIlarious   there is a koan here.
 ( i lightened the exposure on acoupla his pics as he is so coal black detail can be lost)

Click to enlarge. the hawk pics are at my max zoom and very far away.

sweetest Red tailed hawk over native ground by mtodd

sweetest redtailed hawk from a distance by mtodd

Sweetest redtailed Hawk Flies Over Native Ground mtodd

sweetest redtail flying

yesterday's moon by mtodd

yesterday's moon by mtodd

Good Boy!

sweetest early onset dementia

wait a sec- do i know you?

Danger! intruder!

come see who's this!

Beauty Eyes.

What?

Never mind

Red tailed hawk is BIG, Dig?

sweetest sparrows from far away marytodd

Unretouched. birds roost on burn pile across the feild

Pics from the late fall of same subjects:

sweet dementia last summer

Juvenile red tailed hawk HERE

Life and Death in the Yard: Country Living

For exactly three years, a good 10-20% of this blog has shared views and videos of

  Life in the Yard:

from
the most graceful, beautiful mated Deer Pair in soybeans (HERE)

click on pics to view large

who came to check out the apple, peach, and apricot trees in early spring and wandered peacefully around the yard for 15 minutes,
to
Woodchucks, one of whom
 came in late winter and is now a family of four who love cold carrots and my mustard greens-- eating apples
 (HERE), and
playing on the woodpile HERE

from
ethereal butterflies (e.g., HERE and HERE and more HERE)

to
Singing Orioles,
Playful Hummingbirds, 
and  stunning Cardinals.
Rockstar Spiders who spin Perfect webs or who play Wargames.
Very Shy Coyotes,
 Dragonflies that are smiling,
and RABBITS, darling wabbits,  Big eared Rabbits!
Sphinx moths and very strange moths,

and
Bald Eagles in kansas and Stately Raptors, Souring Hawks, a Baby hawk
and the faabulous Vultures!
Vultures in light! more Vultures...The beauty of Vultures!
and

The Beautiful Goose. Migrating Geese. HUGE FLOCKS of Geese!
The wonderful and necessary BEES!
The visiting Dogs.   Hollyhocks in Wind. American Goldfinches in the Kansa Wind.
 Pelicans playing on kansas thermals overhead!
Birds in SNOW.  Black and white Cats in Snow with Pink Noses.
Big beautiful Sunflowers and Enourmous sunflowers with bees and

Plant Life, the amazing Flint hills, the life of rocks, and
 the
sublime and strange sky and the  river noises and turtles

The Horses and  Donkeys and Cows nearby along the morning commute...

and

Life in the Yard like HERE and HERE

is what makes

 all the dirt and dust that constantly blows into the house,

 the

 spiders scaring me into adrenaline overdrive,

 the

 wind that destroys everything i planted last week--

OK. 

Even death.

Last night i killed a big brown recluse spider in the bathroom. I didn't want to, but my fear still exists. Perfect love which drives out fear is an ongoing endeavor.

Last night, up late reading the political blogs, i squeaked as a mouse scampered in from the kitchen--it screeched in its tracks as it saw me sitting up in bed--and made a sharp right turn into a pile of sheets. Later in the deep dark of early morning, my Konza Prairie Dog sounded like she was in playheaven, pouncing and murmering with glee as she moved the mouse along in its journey through The Cycle.

I woke and pondered death.

The death of the poor possum,

dead at my hand.

The death of an owl hit by a passing truck. The death of a rabbit, softer than milkweed under the wheel...

The death of a crow in the yard, a wounded skunk, a passing wildcat wounded by a bullet, an enourmous disemboweled rat given as a gift by a member of the Thunderpaws Tribe of cats...

One writes roadkill love poems to channel the hurt...

Death. It is not the death that hurts, but the moments of violence, confusion, pain and fear that preceed.

Earlier in the day

a hawk had descended in hungry fury on the woodpile, resulting in a scattering of birds but perhaps one less squirrel...

There are cycles in everything.

A woodpecker and a sparrow were pecking and arguing over a seedcake yesterday morning. Back and forth they picked and pecked and peeped-- all while NOT eating. Suddenly, a hummingbird came close and just hovered around both of them. This is three feet from the front porch. Usually the hummers stay 15-25 feet out, near the nectar feeders and the flowers.

The hummingbird came within 3-4 inches of each bird, just humming with interest, for about 20 seconds.

The tiny weightless hummingbird whispered away.

 The sparrow and the woodpecker quietly began to eat.

  

A song to listen to while hiking in the Flint Hills: HERE