I am the hawk and there's blood in my feathers, but time is still turning they soon will be dry. And all those who see me and all who believe in me, share in the freedom I feel when I fly.
~John Denver
Melissa and I were gone on another truck camping adventure for a couple of weeks in May (more about that in the next few posts) and on our return I was anxious to see what the trail cameras captured in our absence. I was hoping to see several video clips on the antics of the young opossums (I posted about them last time, right before we left on vacation). Imagine my surprise when I looked at the footage from the two cameras near the opossum den - no footage at all of the young ones! There was plenty of two adult opossums around the hole and on the log and on nearby cameras, but nothing from the youngsters. Who knows what happened, or did they just move on? I'm not sure how long young opossums stay with their mother, but I would have thought longer than this.
--An adult Virginia Opossum near the den at the tree root ball. It grabs something small right at the end of this clip and eats it. Bonus points if you can tell what it eats (I can't)
As I said, there are several clips of two different adult opossums around the den and the tree from the root ball. Another camera adjacent to the large tree from the root ball site caught this action of two opossums chasing each other. The place they pause is a spot that both opossums and raccoons showed a lot of interest in while we were away. Both species were caught digging at the spot and one opossum carried something away and ate it, but I can't tell what it was in the video. I thought maybe a yellow-jacket's nest was dug up, but I can't find any evidence on the ground.
--Opossum chase and a standoff near the place that they and raccoons had been digging
The cameras caught some unusual behavior in our absence - coyotes out during the daylight. In fact, coyotes appeared 5 days in a row during the day on two different cameras (and have appeared again since we have returned - the second clip). I guess they may have young that need feeding and so they are abandoning their usual caution and venturing forth during the day to find food.
--A rare daytime appearance by a coyote
--Coyote pair out in daylight
In addition to some quick clips of the first fawn of the season, the big highlight from the trail cams involved a long series of clips of an immature Red-tailed Hawk that landed on the tree coming from the opossums root ball den site.
--An immature Red-tailed Hawk lands on the log, much to the dismay of local squirrels barking in the background
--The hawk seems content to sit and preen in spite of the concerned local residents
But one squirrel isn't having it and seemingly decides to challenge the hawk. There are a few clips where the squirrel approaches the predator on the tree, but maybe it realizes a standing hawk is no threat compared to one in the air.
--A brave (or stupid) squirrel comes toward the hawk, who seems puzzled at the intrusion
Finally, after several minutes of footage, the hawk walks off. Check out the blood stain on its feathers. I am hoping that is from a prey item (perhaps a brave, or stupid, squirrel) and not an injury.
--The hawk strides by the camera, taking a nice selfie in the process
The next few posts will give some of the highlights of our recent road trip out west (and surprisingly, this time the road did not lead to Yellowstone!).
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