The hawks are back in town!

I drive a fair amount of distance every week. From home to school and back I drive around 50 miles a day. And some days I travel even further. Majority of my travel brings me on the "back roads" through countryside and corn fields, so I often get to glimpse some wildlife. Lately the majority of my spotting has been limited to Redtail Hawks and roadkill- ahhh, 'Tis the season! This is the first year that I have been observant and aware of migrating animals- noticing the signs that they make as they wake up, start moving back into the neighborhood, and...carelessly cross the road. The hawks are I assume, migrating back through the area. Temps are rising, and the sun is hanging around longer and longer each day. There's one stretch of road I take to Naples, a small Finger Lakean town, every tuesday. And every recent tuesday, I have been noticing the hawks hanging out in tree tops, on powerlines, or gliding over the fields, looking for a snack.

The other day, driving by this very field, from a distance we noticed a large object in the field, which turned out to be a deer carcass being visited 2 Redtails. It was cool to see, especially so close. Usually you can only see those birds from underneath as you walk or drive under them- seeing that flash of it's famous red tail. But these 2 were just having lunch off the side of the road.

Another place I always spot scavengers is a road side ditch, close to my house. It's a notorious spot for hunters, I assume, to dump deer carcasses either collected as roadkill, or leftovers from a fall hunt. It's a little disturbing, if you're squeemish for these kinds of things- and by that I mean- a mass deer grave. It interests me though, and I wish that I knew who owned the land so that I could ask to put a trail camera on the pile o' deer and watch who comes to visit in the night. I bet it's a hopping spot. Anyway- here it is:

Dey Rd, March 2011

I usually can expect to spook off a few crows, maybe a hawk or two as well. It was vultures though, that gave away this spot. It's located probably 6 ft off the road, in a ditch, so from sitting high in a car, you'll miss it if you don't know it's there. One morning on the way to school, I spooked 4 turkey vultures off this pile, and they went 4 different ways, in front of the car...giving me a small heart attack! But, it was cool to see, and now everyday on my way home from school, I slow down and pull as close to the edge as I can to peek down and see if anything interesting comes up. I'm still hoping for a nice big rack to show up as the snow and ice are melting down.

Spring is coming!