Dave's post reminded me that once while birding stn 43 in South Windsor a Red Tailed Hawk while flying over me somehow dropped a Gray Squirrel. Funny how he was successful in capturing it but couldn't hold onto it!

Amazingly adaptable birds. When I was at Maguire, I could look out my third floor window in downtown New Britain to witness Red-tails successfully hunting pigeons. They would fly low and at a close angle to the building and then crank upward at the last second to surprise a pigeon sitting/snoozing up on the roof top edge. We would witness them ripping apart their quarry in the trees within the parklet outside of our building. We never witnessed a kill from the "bird-eating" raptors (Peregrine, Goshawks, or other raptors coming through) but then again the Red-tails were resident and so we saw them more frequently. Anthony J. Zemba CHMM Senior Ecologist Professional Soil Scientist GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. 655 Winding Brook Drive Suite 402 Glastonbury, CT 06033 Office Phone: 860-286-8900 Office Fax: 860-652-8590 ONE FINANCIAL PLAZA 1350 Main Street Suite 1400 Springfield, MA 01103 Office Phone: 413-726-2100 Direct: 413-726-2127 Office Fax: 413-732-1249 "I CAUGHT this morning morning's minion, king- dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing, As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding Stirred for a bird,-the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!" Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1844-1889 -----Original Message----- From: ctbirds-bounces@lists.ctbirding.org [mailto:ctbirds-bounces@lists.ctbirding.org] On Behalf Of Paul Desjardins Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 4:07 PM To: ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org Subject: [CT Birds] Hunting Red Taileds Dave's post reminded me that once while birding stn 43 in South Windsor a Red Tailed Hawk while flying over me somehow dropped a Gray Squirrel. Funny how he was successful in capturing it but couldn't hold onto it! _______________________________________________ This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org ________________________________ This electronic message is intended to be viewed only by the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain privileged and/or confidential information intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, printing, copying, distribution or use of this information is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy this message and its attachments from your system. ________________________________ For information about GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. and its services, please visit our website at www.gza.com<http://www.gza.com/>.