Hawk trying to raid the Garden!
He saw me and I saw him! This is a Gymnogene (Harrier Hawk). All birds fear him!
I knew what he was looking for and he knew that I was in the way!
This is what he wants and I we had to get ready to defend!!
One look and the mouse scattered!
Of course he also wanted one of the babies!
The mommy gathered the kids and prepared to fight!
Mr. hawk cleverly circled behind the oak tree!
And now he will come over from a different direction!
Closer and closer he came, but we were ready for him!
He saw that I had a long stick and decided to try another day!
Ever so slowly things returned to almost normal.
It was a close shave, but everyone is safe and this is the end.
No time to conclude, as power shut down is at 19:00hrs. (6pm)
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I suppose hawks have to eat, too, but not in my backyard! I was told that the most common cause of death in hawks and eagles is starvation. I guess it takes young ones a long time to learn how to hunt for themselves Great photos, my friend!
Great to see you Lady Melinda and Spring season into Autumn is the best time foe hawks to feast on the young ones. I have seen how the parents teach the young ones how to hunt and there is ample food for them over here. They like to take rodents and rabbits and we have even seen one take a big Hadeda Ibis baby out of a nest.
I love to snap them in flight, but I think that they have taken enough babies over here in the big garden. There were two clusters of 12 guinea fowl babies each and in the first there is only one left. In the second there is only four left.
So I have decided that enough is enough and all.
We feed the babies now with a special No 1 maize and corn mix, designed as a fast growing booster. The great thing is that they have started to fly and they sleep with the mom 30 meters up in the old oak tree every night.
Blessings!
It is good that you are taking care of those babies! It must be tough to be a bird!
Nature at it's best hunter and hunted, life is tough no matter what living being you are it is applicable to all. Thanks for great photography and another lovely story Stephen.
Thank you Lady Joan and of course as usual, you are so right!
Blessings!
Wow nature is awesome - and love the photos, I know they must eat but I am glad the mouse and babies got away hahaha
Thank you and they can certainly go and eat elsewhere my friend. They've had enough on my turf.
Blessings!
Those are some awesome shots! Birds in flight can be pretty tricky, and especially something like a fast moving hawk. Well done on defending the home turf...
Thank you my friend, many flop shots have taught me how to get them in flight and you are right, as it's tricky. I have grown to love the babies and the hawks were feasting here, as there was originally 12 babies. Only 4 left!
Blessings!
Ye sit sure looks like it spotted you in the first shot and maybe unfairly to the Hawk I am glad he didnt get lunch while you were around with the stick
is this a case of walk tall and carry a big stick?
Thank you JJ, I am tall and the big stick was more of a long bamboo pole. The thought was just to wave it around in order to scare him off, as I would never strike him with it.
Blessings!
Never in my mind did I think you would strike it or anything
Love your story in pictures! That is a very different looking hawk than the ones we have here in Canada.
So glad you keep those cute little baby birds safe!
You say you ended it for there is a power shut down at 6 pm. Is that a regular thing? If so is that because there is a shortage of power there to supply everyone's needs?
Thanks for sharing your beautiful photography!
Thank you and it's the only hawk that physically climbs trees my friend.
It is alleged that the power company in South Africa has been seriously mismanaged and corrupted and this has caused serious defects to the electricity supply to the country. They have also not planned for the population explosion and although, in an effort to fix things, two new huge power stations were built at a huge cost, they don't work due to contracting corrupt contractors.
We are now on a shut down roster and the power is shut off here 3 times a day for 2 to 3 hours. This is to prevent the entire system from collapsing.
With winter around the corner, the poor is going to suffer.
Blessings!
Greetings.
First of all, I loved the story told by your photographs. I love animals and I love the stories derived from close observation of their behavior.
Unfortunatelly, sometimes we have to accept that their world moves by different rules and it is hard to side with some of them given that sooner or later they'll be "deleted from the picture" by another cute animal, as part of their natural "interaction".
I was going to ask about the programmed/scheduled power cuts.
I have been following some bloggers from SA and it is a matter of alarm that you guys are facing a crisis that resembles so much what we have in latin america, especially in Venezuela (hopefully the rest of the continent will remain as far away from our example as possible).
What you narrate about the power company there is exactly what happened here. Avarice tore the sack, as we say here. I hope politicians there do not look for a colonial scapegoat to deviate attention from their inneficiency and corruption.
Thank you my friend and I am aware about your haggard situation in Venezuela!
May I say that we follow suit, as each of our SOE's (State Owned Enterprises), are facing bankruptcy and they all have a monopoly in the services that they provide. I think that over here "avarice has not only torn the sack", but that the total sack has disappeared.
We are in for a bumpy ride my friend!
Blessings!
So sorry to hear that. Hope your people find a better path soon enough.
Blessings to you too.
Oh my goodness! I'm sorry to hear that about the power! Why must corruption cause such suffering? Are they so blinded by greed that they can not see the effects it is having on their country. So glad that you are there doing your charity work, it lightens my heart to know of good folks!
Interesting fact about the hawk! Thanks for the info!
Awesome narrative photography! Did you stitch them together that way or did it really happen just like that?
I feel kind of bad for Mr. Hawk. He went hungry that day...but I bet the rest of the critters are quite happy!
Thank you and I am sure that the hawk found something to eat, as this area is crawling with critters.
I don't know how to stitch photos together, as I don't have any editing programs, and all of the photos here were taken off my camera exactly as it happened.
Glad you liked it my friend.
Blessings!
Very cool that you got that series of shots - especially without editing! :-)
This bird of prey flies very beautifully. But to be honest, I myself was scared. And I was very worried about the inhabitants of your garden.
Thank you my friend, but thus far all is fine over here and I keep a watch over the garden.
We try our best to keep them safe, but cannot watch them for 24 hours every day, as they are wild and they go all over the place.
Blessings!
Nice watch on Mr. hawk @papilloncharity
you capture his all moves.. haha
Beautiful photographs..
Thank you my friend and he didn't win!
Blessings!
Excellent photos and story! Great photography. Thanks for sharing with Feathered Friday. Voted & resteemed :-)
Thank you Sir Keith!
Blessings!