• picture
  • picture
  • picture
  • picture
Public Radio's Environmental News Magazine (follow us on Google News)

Birds of Prey

Air Date: Week of

(Photo © Salt Marsh Diary)

A sharp-shin hawk goes after some bluejays and is given a run for its money. Salt Marsh Diary writer Mark Lender observed the action.



Transcript

YOUNG: No animal is more serious than a hawk on the hunt. But sometimes, as writer Mark Seth Lender observes, birds of prey become birds that play - whether they want to, or not.

LENDER: The Birds of Prey have begun their passage. Bottled up by bad weather they wait, and then upon the freshened air, a hurricane of hawks roars through. Goshawk and Broadwing, Rough-leg and Redtail, all are here. So are the falcons, Merlin with that Prussian dueling scar across his eye and thousand-yard stare. Kestrel, hovering above the marshland all bright feathers, formidable beyond her size.


(Photo © Salt Marsh Diary)

A Peregrine cutting across the shallowing sun, almost transparent in the penetrating light of late afternoon. While all the small that walk, that fly, that crawl, that climb quake with dread. Predators prey, prey flees. This morning we had a Sharp-shin. He too must feed and the songbirds fear this little hawk with reason. He may not succeed every time but he tries, sitting in plain sight on a naked branch while everyone hides. Except the Jays.


(Photo © Salt Marsh Diary)

One by one by one, Bluejays alight on the fork of the very same tree. A lethal error in judgment seems to lead them close, closer. Too close. Blasting from his perch the Sharpy strikes, the spurs of his talons scalpel-sharp, his feet spread like fangs. Twisting, he turns and dives head first, half upside down, dogging the nearest Jay, a tail feather’s width behind. The Bluejay, screaming blood and murder, escapes - just barely – and comes right back for more. And more.


(Photo © Salt Marsh Diary)

Each time that blinding terror, each time the narrow escape, each Jay taking his turn as if they want to be eaten. Suicide, by hawk! And then I understood: The Bluejays are playing a game. When we ride the Cyclone careening toward the bottom at an angle sure to jump those roller-coasting tracks - We scream! We love it. We ride that ride again. This is how the Bluejays play it. The hawk does not but then, not his turf, not his rules. One guess who tired first? Prey plays. Predators gnash their teeth. Smart money’s on the Game.

YOUNG: Mark Seth Lender writes the column, “Salt Marsh Diary.” To see photographs and find out more, go to our website LOE dot ORG.

 

Links

Salt Marsh Diary

 

Living on Earth wants to hear from you!

Living on Earth
62 Calef Highway, Suite 212
Lee, NH 03861
Telephone: 617-287-4121
E-mail: comments@loe.org

Newsletter [Click here]

Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.

Newsletter
Living on Earth offers a weekly delivery of the show's rundown to your mailbox. Sign up for our newsletter today!

Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.

Creating positive outcomes for future generations.

Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.

Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.

Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth