This is one of the main participants in the Mysterious Screaming Red-tailed Hawk Battle but before we get to that there is the previous mystery....the What Bug Is This Mystery.
It was blog reader Marion Palen who came up with the goods-
I'm no entomologist, but for the fun of it, I did some web "research"--
After a false start Marion identified it...
It's a Squash Beetle.
And so it is. Which makes perfect sense, as it was found on a pumpkin vine. Many thanks to Marion Palen for the ID.
Next up! The Mysterious Screaming Red-tailed Hawk Battle.
I was on an errand driving in the rural countryside pushing 6 PM when I heard Red-tailed Hawk screams. They were loud, repeated, and there was obviously some kind of crisis going on.
I pulled the car over, jumped out, and searched the direction the screams where coming from.
5:56:58 PM Far in the distance, beyond a cornfield and above a wooded area what I take to be a Red-tailed Hawk is flying madly back and forth.
Periodically she would dive into the trees and then reappear almost immediately.
Screaming and screaming and screaming over and over again. I had truly never heard anything of such duration and what seemed like desperation or fervent anger or both.
5:58:44 PM She continues to focus on the same small area. Sometimes diving. Sometimes flying back and forth in short spurts and glides. I begin to think is not just she who is screaming but also another Red-tail in the same general area as well.
5:59:21 PM I have cropped the photo and increased the contrast in order to show that far left and right smaller birds have appeared out of the trees. After looking carefully, these may just be bystander smaller birds that have been flushed from the area as they don't appear to be attacking the visible hawk.
5:59:42 PM Look carefully and you will see the hawk disappearing into the distance center. I start scanning in all directions.
6:01:15PM Is that a hawk on one of the poles following the railroad tracks to my right?
Maybe, I can't really tell.
6:01:37 DRAT! I start walking as fast as I can along the road which takes me closer but also farther away in another direction due to the angle of the road. I begin to think it is definitely a Red-tail.
And when I got home, cropped, and lightened it up, it WAS a hawk! But that didn't help me much at the time. Because when I finally did manage to get closer after passing behind other trees...
6:04:59 PM This is what I saw. No hawk. She/he waited until my eyes were out of view.... and flew. But I didn't know that. I took photos of all the other poles in view. Nothing!
6:07:59...Nothing. I keep walking on the road towards the railroad tracks glancing up at the poles and wires.
I follow the road, watching the poles down the line carefully.
6:09:50 When I get to the railroad crossing and look nearly directly up at the pole by the road...
Unbelievable there she is. How can one not love Red-tails.
She gives me "the look" or is it he...at any rate 7 seconds later...
6:09:57 PM She has something else to deal with besides me. Note her beak. She is screaming again. See her beak. Is it the hounding of the little bird that has set her off or is she warning a mate about me? Her mate has to have seen me...must be the little guy. And upon looking at the photo of the "little guy" I begin to wonder if that bird is a Kestrel. A Kestrel can kill a Red-tailed hawk.
6:09:57 (within the same second as above) The Red-tail takes off for the trees.
6:09:57 PM Also within the same second. Okay all you birders out there. What species is the bird almost totally in silhouette, chasing the Red-tail and causing it to call? I'm thinking Kestrel...look at the crook in the wings. Very falcon like.
6:10:23 PM 26 seconds later, a Red-tail reappears.
6:10:24 This looks like the same Red-tail. She still has an eye on me.
6:10:25 The camera's actual view.
6:10:25 The next frame as she is pursued, she once again begins to scream. It is almost like she has begun to panic?
MORE TO COME
