A DIFFERENT KIND OF MURDER IN OAKLAND

It's no secret that Oakland has a murder problem. It's on the nightly news, on the front page of our newspapers, and being talked about just about everywhere you go in the city. It's definitely top of mind for us. But today a different type of murder captured my attention. You see, I watched a hawk kill another bird in my backyard, not five feet from where I was.

I'd seen this bird three or four times over the past year. I had been calling him a kestrel because I don't really know anything about birds and the few times I'd seen him, that's what he resembled. Well, today I got a good long look at him, and that's no kestrel. That right there is a Coopers Hawk. Some of you may know him as a Chicken Hawk.

[This is not my photo but I can't find a source.]

[from BillsBirds | Flickr]

[from the future soon]

I won't describe the actual killing to you (mostly because I'm not sure that I can), but it was ... intense. There were feathers everywhere.

We'd gone hawking in Ireland, so we'd seen how red-tailed hawks stalk their prey, but I'd never witnessed anything like this - and in the middle of the city! Between the birds and the squirrels and the possums, it's like animal kingdom in our backyard.