Where the wild things are

 Do you remember the pictures from last year? The two snowstorms, with snow so high that our dogs would disappear in it?
Well, in spite of all the news you may have read on snowstorms  on the east coast of the US, Airports closed and so on, we hardly got any snow.
The air had been so dry, any snowflake that might have considered coming this way was killed of by the dry, cold air. And so we just were cold over here, very cold.
So cold, I had to get myself a new coat, my first down coat. Ugly, but warm enough to stay comfortable when walking the dogs.

But, in the beginning of this week we finally got a decent snow cover.
And with the snow came the wild things…

When we put out our bird feeders last year, we attracted quite a lot of little birds and so this year a few big birds decided that we had provided them with the perfect fast food place.
In the beginning it did worry me, thinking they would kill off all the little birds in the area, but all they trees in our garden provide for enough shelter in times of need.
Also, the little ones seem to have a pretty decent warning system and at times there isn't a small bird to be seen.
Those are the times we start looking out for the big ones and we have spotted several different ones already.
And when they are close enough, I sometimes get lucky.
In general they are young birds.
The one you see here is a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.

The young ones seem to be less fearful than the older birds that I haven't gotten a chance to photograph yet. They take off the moment they see me open the door.

But this young Cooper Hawk let me come pretty close and gave me a very dirty look.

To be honest, it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. We have seen several of these predators up close now and I know to respect those razor sharp claws and the sharp bills.
But after giving me ' the look'  it decided to find another tree, less close to that weird looking human with a huge eye in front of her face.




And to give you an idea why these guys are hanging around here, this is what they are looking for!

A little Bluebird

One of our squirrels

A Cedar Waxwing

Or maybe even a Mocking bird that visits our deck.

But until now we haven't seen any of the big ones being lucky. And as long as the little ones seem to get away in time, we will enjoy the beauty of the big wild things.

Hope you enjoyed them also.

Petra