Boomer

Hawks Stalk Pheasants

Dear Outdoor Eyewitness,

A long time ago, my bird dog and I were making our way along a railroad right-of-way in search of “pheasant friendly” tall grass. A group of two rooster pheasants and two hens swooped over my head and landed between the railroad tracks. The group was one hundred yards from my dog and I and the pheasants were unaware of us. They immediately walked into the border of tall grass.

My bird dog and I were frozen in fascination with what we’d witnessed. Before we could take a step, a red tail hawk, flying low, much like the pheasants, appeared suddenly and landed next to the grass. The hawk then deliberately walked into the same cover. My bird dog and I sped our approach so we could see what might happen. We were within 25 yards when the tall grass erupted in commotion and the red tail hawk emerged with a hen pheasant in its talons.

The raptor rose forty feet into the air as the pheasant struggled to free itself. In a shower of feathers, the hen broke free and flew off. The hawk flew in the opposite direction.

During a pheasant hunt earlier this year, I observed what I thought was two hen pheasants fly low across the field I was facing. As they flew closer, I realized that the bird in front was a hen pheasant but the bird in back was a red tail hawk. Both birds landed by tall grass and walked into the grass.

I thought hawks “stooped” that is dive out of the sky, stun their prey with closed talons then seized their prey and pierced it to kill it.

Rapt Observer