Raw Nature in the Suburbs
I was driving through one of the posher Leeds suburbs today, on my way to visit Silverback for a cuppa.
Suddenly, right ahead of me, I saw a Squashed Dead Thing by the edge of the road. I couldn't work out what it was - perhaps a squirrel that had been run over.
Next to it was a large crow, happily pecking away at this free lunch.
I slowed down to watch the crow - and then something amazing happened.
Out of nowhere, a huge bird of prey dropped like a stone onto the crow, which never saw what hit it, but nevertheless staggered clumsily for a couple of steps and then flew off, chased by the much bigger bird. The crow was very unsteady in the air - it was clearly thinking "WTF?" And in fact the bigger bird had droppped so fast that I hadn't seen it coming either.
I recognised the big bird: it was a red kite. I have occasionally seen them in the area as there is a breeding colony at nearby Eccup Reservoir.
They have very wide wings - a five-foot wingspan! - and a forked tail and this makes their shape very easy to identify. Once I saw one above the parade of shops at Moortown Corner - it looked very incongruous, this huge bird of prey gliding above Marks and Spencer's!
But today, the red kite was just a few feet in front of me as it swooped down on the crow: I've never seen one up so close and it looked absolutely huge. Of course, when you just see the silhouette in the sky it's hard to tell the scale. I knew they were big but it made the crow look like a sparrow in comparison.
I had stopped the car - I was going slowly anyway but don't remember stopping so it's a good job there wasn't anything behind me! As the red kite took off again after landing on the crow I could see its forked tail and the red on its wings very clearly.
Once it had made quite sure the crow wasn't coming back - - and believe me, the crow certainly had no intentions of ever coming back, in fact it's probably still flying in the general direction of AWAY - then the red kite did a rather fancy turn in the air, came back, landed on the Squashed Dead Thing, took a large beakful and then flew away.
The whole incident took much less than a minute - - perhaps only thirty seconds.
What is it about birds of prey? They always give me a little frisson of excitement. And the suddenness of it all, coupled with the size of the red kite and its closeness to my car made it a thrilling thing to have seen in a Leeds suburb on a Tuesday afternoon. All over in less than a minute - and yet I know I'll always remember it.
Suddenly, right ahead of me, I saw a Squashed Dead Thing by the edge of the road. I couldn't work out what it was - perhaps a squirrel that had been run over.
Next to it was a large crow, happily pecking away at this free lunch.
I slowed down to watch the crow - and then something amazing happened.
Out of nowhere, a huge bird of prey dropped like a stone onto the crow, which never saw what hit it, but nevertheless staggered clumsily for a couple of steps and then flew off, chased by the much bigger bird. The crow was very unsteady in the air - it was clearly thinking "WTF?" And in fact the bigger bird had droppped so fast that I hadn't seen it coming either.
I recognised the big bird: it was a red kite. I have occasionally seen them in the area as there is a breeding colony at nearby Eccup Reservoir.
They have very wide wings - a five-foot wingspan! - and a forked tail and this makes their shape very easy to identify. Once I saw one above the parade of shops at Moortown Corner - it looked very incongruous, this huge bird of prey gliding above Marks and Spencer's!
But today, the red kite was just a few feet in front of me as it swooped down on the crow: I've never seen one up so close and it looked absolutely huge. Of course, when you just see the silhouette in the sky it's hard to tell the scale. I knew they were big but it made the crow look like a sparrow in comparison.
I had stopped the car - I was going slowly anyway but don't remember stopping so it's a good job there wasn't anything behind me! As the red kite took off again after landing on the crow I could see its forked tail and the red on its wings very clearly.
Once it had made quite sure the crow wasn't coming back - - and believe me, the crow certainly had no intentions of ever coming back, in fact it's probably still flying in the general direction of AWAY - then the red kite did a rather fancy turn in the air, came back, landed on the Squashed Dead Thing, took a large beakful and then flew away.
The whole incident took much less than a minute - - perhaps only thirty seconds.
What is it about birds of prey? They always give me a little frisson of excitement. And the suddenness of it all, coupled with the size of the red kite and its closeness to my car made it a thrilling thing to have seen in a Leeds suburb on a Tuesday afternoon. All over in less than a minute - and yet I know I'll always remember it.
Labels: red kite
posted by Daphne at 8:04 pm
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