The Struggle...

William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

A Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus, sitting in leaves at base of a tree just after catching a Wood Duck. Walton County, Georgia

Friday, 8:07 AM – Loud splashes reverberate off the water; large ripples disturb the surface of the pond! An animal twists and bobs in the water, struggling to stay afloat. It is the sight and sound of a struggle. But what is it? From a distance I can’t tell. It seems too violent to be one of the beaver simply smacking his tail on the water.
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Raising my telephoto lens I get a first glimpse... it's a hawk flailing in the water. Halfway underwater… now mostly submerged… now turning away from me… now spinning towards me… struggling to lift off out of the water… struggling to make it to the bank. Why would a hawk be in a pond? And how the heck could a hawk drown? 

Wait a minute… there is something in its sharp talons; something struggling for life, taking its last gasps of air. As the prey loses the struggle and expires, the hawk is still struggling to pull it from the water; to drag it up on the bank. A big catfish? No, it looks like a duck; perhaps it is one of the recently arrived Mergansers?

I sit and watch as the hawk slowly manages to pull his quarry up on the leaf-laden bank of the pond. Pull… rest… pull… rest. Now I notice the repeated, mournful, alarmed ‘ooh-eee’ whistle from the far side of the water. After nearly 10 minutes of toil, the hawk is able, foot by foot, to drag his prey several yards up underneath a Water Oak standing near the water’s edge. He sits upon his catch, wet and exhausted.

A Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus, sitting in leaves at base of a tree just after catching a Wood Duck. Walton County, Georgia

​Now is my chance to sneak in closer. He is not going to leave his hard fought for breakfast and allows me some close up photos. He is reluctant to leave, having struggled so hard for this prize. I go in for a closer look at his catch... a now deceased, but beautifully colored, male Wood Duck. The ruffled feathers, a deep talon puncture on his cheek, the distant glaze in his eye... all signs of his struggle.

Dead male Wood Duck laying in leaves attacked by a hawk. Walton County, Georgia. Aix sponsa is a perching duck found in North America. It is one of the most colorful North American waterfowl and popular for duck hunting.

A Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus, sitting in leaves at base of a tree just after catching a Wood Duck. Walton County, Georgia

As I press in a little too close, the hawk leaves its prey, hopping to a branch just above; then about 20 feet above into an old snag to dry his wings in the sun. Do I take the Wood Duck for my coworker to mount? No. That wouldn’t be right. The hawk struggled so hard for this meal, I can’t possibly take it. I leave the duck lying in the leaves with the hawk peering down at me from the treetop.

Later in the afternoon I return to the scene. The duck is gone without a trace. Not a single feather on the ground; no sign of a feast. After drying his wings, the hawk must have been able to lift off with the duck and consume his quarry elsewhere. ​Life in the wild is a struggle… for both predator and prey alike.

​Walton County, Georgia
Sunrise 7:09 AM, Sunset 5:28 PM 
10 hour 18 minutes of daylight
Patchy fog before 7 AM. Sunny, calm wind.
​High 78°, low 50°.

Walton County, Monroe, Georgia.