Today I had another opportunity for photos. Got some but they are too far away. Did witness it hunting smaller birds flying over the field. Then later I was out on the terrace talking on the phone wit my Mom. Noticed a whole lotta turkey vultures gathering in a swirl in the sky-just circling like a tornado. There were a good 300 and they just kept gathering from the west. When it got to be about 500 they moved further east to gather with another couple thousand we saw off in the distance!! Couldnt believe it!!! Wish I could have got a picture for you Kathy!! Earlier in the year we were on our way to church. (our church building is in the middle of a field on the SW section of the Mojave Desert). A "dog" passed in front of us just on the property border of our church. Well it was a coyote and it had a turkey vulture in it's mouth!!! Thought it WAS a turkey at first. It was good to see the wild doing so well in it's natural surroundings!!! Have a great Friday. Love, Jules

Y'all, if I never again see the puffed-up head of a venomous snake staring at me from a feathered fowl lying dead on the ground, that will be OK with me. You just don't know how close I came to that bird...and was bending over and reaching down to pick it up to dispose of it....before I saw the snake! I learned a lesson that is a good one for anyone out in a rural area.....don't attempt to dispose of a wild critter until you make sure it isn't harboring another wild thing. I also learned long ago that it is better to whip out the cell phone and call someone nearby to either come shoot the thing, or to at least stand and watch it for me while I go for a gun, because if you go inside to get the gun, that snake is going to disappear and you'll have to worry about it popping up and getting a pet or person some other day. I felt kind of bad for both of them.....the snake, after all, was only defending itself, and the hawk was just looking for a meal. None of our neighbors have ever seen a snake get a hawk, although plenty have seen hawks scoop down and pick up snakes. Around here, if you are firing a shotgun, you have to let everyone around you know why so they won't be worried that you are "in trouble" and need help. All our neighbors said they hadn't thought the snakes were up yet, so appreciated the warning....especially those with grandchildren or great-grandchildren visiting for spring break. Randy, I am starting to wonder myself. It is so darn warm here and all the critters are out and about--especially the frogs, toads and grasshoppers. My guineas are wearing themselves out chasing grasshoppers all day. They "collapse" on the lawn at 3 or 4 p.m. every day, fat and full of hoppers, and too tired to move. If the ten-day forecast looks good on Sunday, I may start planting warm-season crops, including tomatoes. Our air temps and soil temps are great here right now. I think it could be that this is our "one year in ten" that the weather cuts us a break! It is cool, cloudy and overcast here today, although those conditions are aggravated by the extreme smoke in the air. (County commissioners lifted the burn ban and everyone is burning brush piles, field stubble, etc. and our air is positively filthy with smoke and ash.) We're supposed to get rain, but it seems to be staying east of us. Dawn

NJTea: I live in zone 7 Maryland, and we haven't had any great amount of snow here, this Winter. Nevertheless, from my experience, just about any raptor will eat roadkill when hungry--at any time of year. Fresh killed roadkill is just an easy meal. To cite a few observances of mine: Traveling from Los Angeles to San Diego in the wee hours of the morning (about 30 years ago), in the middle of Summer, I rounded a bend on the freeway approaching San Diego, just after daybreak, and almost hit a Golden Eagle as it flew off a squashed Jackrabbit in the middle of a southbound lane. (I might also add that 30 minutes prior, I had to brake for about 6 Mexican (obviously illegal) aliens running across the freeway in front of me, right before dawn--not an uncommon sight in that area, in those days.) A few years ago, on a country road in Virginia in early Spring, I noticed in a powerline right-of-way, about 30 yards from the road, a Buzzard (Turkey Vulture) eating on a dead Cottontail Rabbit, while a Red Tail Hawk and a Crow, waited no more than 15-20 feet away, for their turn. I have no idea if the Hawk had killed the rabbit there, or it was struck by a car on the road and dragged itself there. It was the most unusual sight--for me--as I had never seen 3 different predatory birds (albeit, one, a scavenger) at a single rabbit carcass, in my life. (The following not about road-kill, but about gun-kill): A farmer friend in Virginia has a dove-hunt at his farm each year, on the first day of Dove season (which I believe is September 1), and invites about 40 of his friends to participate. Wheat or oats or rye, etc., are bush-hogged (cut) a week before the season, and the grain scattered, usually where power lines cross the field (a natural flyway for doves). Doves come to this scattered grain, and are shot by camouflaged hunters situated around the edges of the fields. Though the hunters attempt to find all the birds they shoot (they cook and eat the breasts), they invariably don't find them all. I have seen hawks--varying in size from Kestrals (though usually larger) to Red Tails--hovering, then landing on, or near the dead doves, and eating them--many times while the hunters are still shooting. As dangerous a situation as it is for them, It's just too easy a meal to pass up. I could quote any number of other examples of raptors on road-or-otherwise-killed animals; but I must say that I don't believe I have seen one on an animal as large as a deer (except Turkey Vultures). That was a nice sighting, Richard (and others, who have seen such things). As was mentioned, hunger is responsible for strange occurrences.

You can't disturb a nest once it has eggs in it. If you at all prevent a hawk from raising it's young, it's called a 'take'. The hawk may or may not abandon the nest and the young may or may not get the food they need to grow and if any of the disturbance is your doing, US Fish & Wildlife will be secretly filming you and trying to build a case. Many people get on a 'witch hunt' over hawks and 'their rights'. It's a small minded neighborhood thing because many view the hawks now as cool thanks to nest cams. My advice is to remove any tall trees that would be an ideal nesting site if budget allows, or make them unappealing before nesting season by paying a tree climber to add a fake racoon or fake owls that move, or other bright, big objects that move such as huge balloons with eyes, large shiny pinwheels with tape that flashes in the breeze. Add several so as to overwhelm the hawk as it first approaches it's old nesting area. It may not stop the hawk from coming to the area but may pursuade it to nest elsewhere. Just make sure that the type of hawk you're trying to encourage to move isn't considered endangered in your area. Your local game commission may have that information. A pic provided to them will be helpful. I know red shouldered hawks are becoming more scarce due to red tail hawks taking over good hunting and nesting grounds. Just check with your local authorities before taking any action.