Hawk Stalker

Look at me...blogging today. More rare of a day, it could not be. I'd like to say that I have a substantial reason for not blogging. I could easily blame it on time constraints, holiday insanity, never-ending bouts of cabin fever...but alas, though it could easily be true of any one of those reasons, the actual truth? Writer's block. Honestly, I've lost a good deal of my inspiration to write - in any form. Perhaps the drive will hit again. But recent uncontrollable life happenstances have rendered the otherwise useful and more imaginative sector of my brain, all but useless. Whatcha gonna do, eh? So it's been a couple of weeks since my last entry and what do I choose to blog about? No, not my kids. Because that would be way to predictable and far more appreciated by most readers. I'm going to introduce you to my stalker. He's brown, beaked, talon-ed, winged and has an insatiable appetite for what I can only assume to be our two helpless, yet impenetrably caged, rabbits. He...er...or she I suppose (sorry, I refer to all animals but cows as male for some reason)...has been a steady 'guest' at our house for over two weeks now. It's a red-tailed hawk. Weird, right? I first noticed him one day when I went out to put the bunnies in their highly unprotected ground pen. Before I got that far, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. On my fence, I see this:


He was just watching me. Creepy. I ran in to get my camera and shot a couple of pictures. Eventually he became bored with me and flew the coop. The red flag in my head said, "Don't put the bunnies out, dummy." So later in the day I went back outside and there he was again! Watching...as if waiting for something. Strange. The next day he was back. And the day after that? Back again. He's always there now. In a tree, on a fence, on the swingset, on the kid's slide climber. Just...ya know...sitting there...watching. He's only been gone one day which so happened to be the one day when it was like 60 degrees outside. Probably hunting. But rain or shine, our hawk stalker is always there. So what did I do? I started feeding him. Yeah. Dumb. I know. It's like sentencing my bunnies to certain annihilation. I started throwing raw chicken out in his favorite places. I can't be sure he's the one eating it, but I'd bet good money it is. Anyhow, my ultimate goal is to train him to come to me when I call and he'll whistle Dixie on command. I shall call him Squawky and love him always. Okay...now I'm just being ridiculous. Anyhow...here's some photos of Mr. Bunny stalker. Weird stuff around our house I tell you. Weird stuff...