Food Chain

It's cold out.

Fat snowflakes drift aimlessly to the ground.

As the flakes descend, the creature's appetites rise.

The birds can't get enough of the suet.  

This one is composed of lard and peanut butter, cornmeal, oatmeal and sunflower seeds, with a few raisins mixed in.  

Yum!

High in a tree, crows weigh their chances of getting to the food.

Wild turkeys have staked their territory over the corn on the ground, 

and when the crows try to encroach, one bold turkey keeps pushing them back.

Early in the afternoon, a regal red-shouldered hawk swooped in to check out the birds on the deck.

They scattered, and he came up empty. This time.

As he left the deck, he grabbed at the suet but couldn't get it loose.

He'll be back.

With all the creatures around him eating,
the carpendar ant on our deck doesn't even pause for a snack.

Talk about work ethic-- this guy wrote the book!



Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday

Persistance Pays?

A sudden shower had come and gone, 

cooling the heat of the afternoon, when I stopped at the lake to view the sky.

To my delight, a red-tailed hawk soared in and landed on a nearby telephone pole.  

As I watched, it became apparent that not everyone was as pleased to see it as I was. 

 Out of nowhere, 

a mockingbird swooped down at the hawk and passed within inches with claws extended.

  It rested on the telephone wire for a moment before renewing its attack.

The hawk preened itself, studiously ignoring the little dive bomber...

...but the harassment continued. 

Just when it seemed the mockingbird would surely tire of its mission,

a light seemed to dawn in the hawk's brain.

"I could leave!"

And so it did.  The mockingbird was hot on its tail when it disappeared from sight.

Soon, the fearless mockingbird could return to claim the top of the pole as its very own.

Oops!

Nature abhors a vacuum.

Linking with Wild Bird Wednesday,
 Camera Critters
and My Sunday Best