This is a Cooper's Hawk. Beautiful, isn't she?For those who have grown up believing that the Red tailed Hawk is the infamous "chicken hawk" I shall correct your perception's at this point. Cooper's Hawks are the culprits and unfortunately many, many red tails have paid the price for the Coop's indiscretions. If you live in the city and have a back yard bird feeder or bird bath, Cooper's are notorious for staking out these areas and routinely picking off songbirds
This doesn't mean that the Cooper's hawk is doing anything wrong, just taking advantage of a good situation that human beings have set up for her. Unfortunately, most homeowners will immediately believe the hawk killing the happy little tweeters is an evil being that should be punished. Which is just wrong. The hawk is only doing what it does naturally....prey on other birds. It is a predator of the highest order and should be thought of that way. Humans have killed them for years, simply for doing what nature designed them to do. So there is no point in my getting too upset over losing the chicken this morning. It is part of that Circle of Life and Nature's perfect balance, which I mention frequently.
So anyway, that was how the day started. Then I looked out the window and it was raining. It only lasted a couple of minutes and was so unexpected that I walked outside to make sure I hasn't having a self-induced hallucination (this is a farm and it hasn't rained in a long long time,
you know). But it was really raining, although I didn't even get damp when I went out. Maybe it will rain Wednesday like the weatherman predicts.Of course, I don't put a lot of store in the weather forecast. Like The Farmer says, meteorologists are the only people he knows who have a job where they are guessing at everything they say and that even if they are wrong 90% of the time they still get paid a lot of money. This is near the top of my list of things that make you go "hmmmmmmm".
