Red-tailed Hawk Has A Wee Meal

Oh my, what an exciting experience I had today over at the Imbrie Ponds.  After I had hiked around the pond, a hawk caught my eye over in a far tree.  So I decided to backtrack and see if I could get closer for a shot.  He didn't seem to care if I got closer, but I kept my distance and was happily snapping shots, when he lifted off and headed directly for me.  I snapped a few shots which were blurry...he landed on the ground not more than 10 feet away, caught a mouse and went to work on killing and eating it.  I kept shooting and thinking to myself that I couldn't believe this was happening SO CLOSE to me.  It was surreal to be so close and to see the entire thing.  I even remarked outloud how amazing it was...he just kept on eating.  Then turned and flew back up to the tree. 

After a bit, he took off and ran into a branch, WHACK....it was a terrible collision, and it stunned him, he flapped his wings and got back onto a branch, but strugged for over a minute trying to get himself out of the branches.  He was tangled up, and no matter what he did, he seemed stuck.  Finally he was able to get free, but then I was worried he'd hurt himself.  Looking back through the photos, his leg looks weird, but he seemed okay and flew to another tree, and then another tree.  I'm hoping he's okay.

For more photos from today visit my Flickr page.