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And so goes the circle of life. Even in the city!

I had just started a run and was heading down the busy street that leads to the park. I noticed a few clumps of grey-and-white feathers drifting in the breeze along the sidewalk and thought to myself, oh my, a pigeon must have really gotten it. City pigeons are really stupid and often you see birds that have been badly injured pecking around in the gutters with one foot in the grave; I see them dead all the time. It's hard not to pity the badly maimed ones, but then again, they are rats with wings.

Still running, I heard screams from a couple of crows overhead. Absentmindedly, I looked up. Two crows, perched on the edge of a rooftop, were bitching at another bird, as crows tend to do. When the other bird picked up its head to swipe back at the crows, I realized it was a huge red-tailed hawk ...ripping into a pigeon.

Tufts of pigeon down were flying off the roof and swirling down to the sidewalk as the hawk shredded its prey. The crows were pestering the hawk relentlesstly. I crossed the street to get a closer look and could see some pigeon guts hanging over the edge of the roof. Eventually the hawk took off with half of a pigeon in its talons, and the crows followed in hot pursuit. I couldn't tell if the crows wanted food or if they were just pissing off the hawk for sport.

I hear hawks screaming outside my apartment windows now and then. I see them in the park all the time. Until today I had never seen one butchering its dinner in someone's rain gutter. Pretty cool!

November 10, 2008 11:10 PM