H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

Not long ago I witnessed the hunt and kill of a vole* by a red-shouldered hawk.

The whole thing happened so quickly. Voles are in the fields and sometimes they come to eat seeds dropped on the ground when bird eat at the feeders.

Voles are daring and venture out of the bushes to feed but exposing themselves in the open, putting their lives in danger while they do it.

Out of the pine trees I saw a blur of something moving in the air, then I finally saw it! It was a large hawk gliding at high speed and in matter of seconds it had a vole in its powerful claws!. Then stood there on the ground still gripping the rodent and very calmly made sure the kill was done, seconds later it simply ate the rodent whole in one gulp!

It was an intense drama in front of my eyes, first time in my life that I saw this happen in person. Wow! I took a few shots but mostly I was so stunned by the whole deal I forgot to shoot more, after all I wasn’t expecting it to happen!

*vole |vōl|

noun

a small, typically burrowing, mouselike rodent with a rounded muzzle, found in both Eurasia and North America. • Subfamily Microtinae (or Arvicolinae), family Muridae: several genera, in particular Microtus, and numerous species.

Hawk preying on vole.