I was at the Parker River Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island. I was hoping to photograph coyotes, but no such luck. As I was driving along the dirt road, I saw a hawk dive onto the ground and attack something. What it was- I couldn't tell. The Red Tail Hawk was in the grass about 25 yards away. As it landed, there was a bit of a battle and feathers were flying. What I did not know then - was that the Red Tail was attacking a younger Harrier Hawk, killing it in the process. I pulled over and started photographing it as it was eating, still not being able to see what the prey was. What follows is a sequence of shots I got from watching the process. It was brutal, but fascinating.
Some may find it gross. I don't. It's simply real life for wildlife. It happens every day, in every facet of the animal kingdom.
Below is the Red Tail, surrounded by feathers, eating the Harrier. In the background, an older Harrier Hawk- maybe a parent of the one being eaten- lands near by after dive bombing the red tail to get it to stop. But it was too late.
The Red Tail just tore the smaller Harrier up and ate as he went...
Meanwhile, the larger Harrier kept dive bombing the Red Tail, trying to distract it.
It had no effect on it though. So i sat and watched for over an hour, in a freezing wind that had numbed my fingers, waiting to see if I could get a shot of the Red Tail taking off . I had almost given up a couple of times, but I decided "Well, I've waited THIS long- I might as well stay to get the shot, right?". So I did- and after about 75-80 minutes, the Red Tail moved, and got into take off position- and then it lifted off -
What I did not expect, was for the Red Tail to try to carry the carcass of the dead Harrier with it....but it did. And heres a series of in-flight shots.
Notice on this one how you can see talon of the dead bird clearly? Kind of weird thinking it was flying around an hour ago - right?
The Red Tail was flying away from me and I just followed along, looking through a 600mm lens -
And then it landed in a tree not too far from me- and it tucked what was left of its dinner right underneath him -
I was the only one there watching it and it wasn't fazed by me at all. I'd like to think it knew (after 90 min) that I wasn't a threat, but who knows? Regardless- it stared right back at me as I clicked away.
*Note- remember- I was shooting with a 600mm lens, so I was nowhere near as close to it as it looks. That's just the lens. I always try to maintain a respectful distance from any wildlife Im photographing.
It was a cool day for me on Plum Island.
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