Young red-tailed hawk scores a slithering lunch

A young red-tailed hawk catches a garter snake. (© Tony's Takes)
A young red-tailed hawk catches a garter snake. (© Tony’s Takes)

Sometimes you just get lucky as I did when I came across this young hawk on the ground two days ago. I figured it had to be on a kill as otherwise they would never sit like that. Quickly I found a spot to stop and carefully approached, realizing it had caught itself a nice little garter snake.

The raptor was so engrossed in eating its meal, it ignored me, allowing me to get quite close and capture the action from first bite to last. Over the 20 minutes or so I spent with it, I shot nearly 600 pics – more than I have shot of a single subject in a long time.

Truly was an awesome thing to see and the hawk came away well fed. The snake, well, clearly it had had better days. 😉 My favorite is the last in the series.

A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony's Takes)
A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony’s Takes)
A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony's Takes)
A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony’s Takes)
A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony's Takes)
A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony’s Takes)
A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony's Takes)
A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony’s Takes)
Young red-tailed hawk scores a slithering lunch
A red-tailed hawk devours a garter snake. (© Tony’s Takes)

Leave a Reply

*

Close Menu