Favoritos de shadowmirror

Black-eared Kite loses its prey (duck) when attacked by two corvids. A heron follows in the distance.

I was standing on the street, just getting out of the car and ready to begin my planned walk with camera in hand, and had kind of noticed some noisy birds off in the distance. The sound from behind me got closer suddenly and so I turned quickly, pulling my camera up to my eye, and saw a confused flutter of wings coming right at me at high speed. I managed to snap a few shots blindly and the carcass landed on the road just a couple of steps away. The birds flew off. There were children around, so I picked up the carcass and tossed it down onto the river bank next to the road out of sight. At the end of my walk, a couple of hours later, I returned to the same place and found the carcass still there. Apparently, none of the birds fighting over it won.

My friend was walking and came upon this 4 ft Black Rat Snake coiled around a juvenile Broad-Wing Hawk. The Hawk was unconscious. He and his wife picked up the duo with a towel and untangled the snake. The snake had a small wound near the tail so he surmised that the hawk likely attacked the snake, but bit the wrong end. Big mistake! Rat Snakes are constrictors. The snake slithered away seemingly unaffected. The hawk took approx 20 minutes to recuperate and fly away. Happy ending for the snake - lesson learned we hope for the hawk.
The hawk had a purple band on its leg, but we don't know who tagged it.
A separate observation has been logged for the hawk.