A Red-tail Learns
We haven’t moved very far down the abandoned rail siding from the truck when she strikes her pose. She has just taken a perch about twenty feet up in an oak at the bottom of the embankment. Countless hunts have taught me her language; body flat, head cocked, and attention fixed means that something’s below her and it’s not moving.
Standing on the old cinders next to a pile of torn up railroad ties, I stare unfocused down the slope into the brush and dead leaves, looking for a any movement or something slightly out of place. A brown-gray lump finally resolves itself into a cottontail, crouched and motionless in the blackberries directly beneath her.
I hold my breath and freeze in position, waiting for predator or prey to commit the opening move.
Before today, she would have not hesitated to crash the heavy brush, only to watch another rabbit vanish out from under her.
Not this time.
A season of chasing and missing has taught her patience and skill. Instead, she moves off to her right so that the rabbit is directly between us. I move in front of the pile of ties to cut off the closest escape route.
Now it’s the rabbit’s turn.
He runs a few short steps back and forth under the briars, enticing her to make a bad decision and allow him to run to safety. She holds fast. He feints an escape, coming out from under the brush only to dart back in just as quickly. Again she does not fall for his trick. We become still again, waiting and sensing that the next move will decide the outcome.
Finally he makes his break. He dashes through the dead leaves across a clearing in the undergrowth, headed for a deadfall of moss-covered oak branches. Fifteen feet or less are all he needs. Two powerful wing beats and she’s on him. A scream and a brief struggle ends the game.
She stands on her catch, crest up and wings spread. She’s learned much this year, transforming from brawler to boxer. Reaction gives way to decision and her confidence grows with each experience.
The matter settled and in the bag, she hops to my fist.
We move on.