Bird Watching: Hawk playing with its prey, 1 by 2dCousinDave

2dCousinDave wrote:
This happened on September 14 and incredibly, lasted more than 10 minutes. I shot more than 250 shots with a 400mm lens. Here are about 40. I have tried to choose pictures that show both the hawk and its prey and I appologize for posting so many images but it seems a great many are needed to tell the story.

My eye was first drawn to this hawk moving about on the ground in my neighbor's yard, about 300 feet distant. I had seen a hawk fly by me and toward a tree in her yard a few minutes before. I begin with what was my tenth shot and the first where I could see the hawk's prey. In later shots it looked to me like a cedar waxwing, but at that distance, it was hard to be sure. You will see it much clearer in some of the later shots.