Stalked By The Hawk At Washtenaw

Stalked By The Hawk At Washtenaw

Along the fourteenth and fifteenth fairways at Washtenaw Golf Club there lives a family of hawks. I often see them soaring above, or perched in the branches, staring down at the people who dare invade their kingdom.

Today, however, I was a bit startled by one as it appeared from behind a tree near where my ball had landed. I suspect that it had a tasty squirrel meal hidden just out of sight.

It glared at me until I moved on.

Not terribly long ago, I got a photo of one of the hawks being attacked by a brave, if foolhardy Eastern Kingbird. The Kingbird is a highly territorial creature of the tyrant flycatcher family. They are known for their penchant for attacking larger birds that they believe threaten their nests, such as crows and hawks. Eastern Kingbirds have been photographed riding on the larger bird’s neck and pecking its head.

Last fall, I got a photo of a very happy hawk Washtenaw with a meal in his talons.

There’s quite a lot of neat wildlife at Washtenaw Golf Club: Innumerable birds, including cormorants, as well as fox, deer, muskrat, and other small rodents. Washtenaw is a great island of parkland in the middle of a sea of neighborhoods and commercial properties.