Accidental Falconry

The craziest thing happened to me this week, and I didn't have my camera to capture it, so a well told story will have to do. Lady had been down it seemed since we'd gotten back from AZ on Sunday. On Friday I decided to take her up hiking at our favorite place, Indian Trail Head, here in Provo. We go up, James in his snowsuit and carrier, Lady running along, loving the snow. There are wild turkeys up there, I've seen them with Jenn before. Well, we found the turkeys, pretty cool I think. They were wondering among some shrub oak and I send in Lady to "go get the turkeys". She's done it before, she can't catch them, so all is well, right? WRONG! I didn't see (and I don't know how I missed it) this GIANT hawk or eagle in the shrub oak that is all around there. Lady goes into the shrub oak, flushed out the turkeys, they fly out, and the hawk gets one, about 30 yards from us! I didn't see the actual kill, but I heard it, Lady did too, and ran back to me (luckily). The hawk made good time, and was trying to carry his catch away, but it was too heavy. It kept trying, only getting about a foot off the ground, then it would fall back down. I held onto Lady because I didn't want her going over to investigate, I mean this hawk just took out a turkey, and obviously wants it. Lady would probably win, or at least run away, but probably not without battle scars. Anyway, we watched it for a little bit, then went back to the car. I called Nathan to tell him, and he was like "did the hawk leave it, lets have turkey for dinner". Haha, he was kidding, but I felt so bad for that turkey. However, I do know that birds of prey have a hard time in the winter and only about a third make it through their first winter. Either way, I participated in some accidental falconry, and the circle of life continues.

The Predator

The Prey


The accidental falconers (picture taken earlier this year, same spot)


The accomplice (picture taken earlier in year, same spot)