Wednesday, March 17, 2010

American Badger and More

While on a leisurely trip, just driving some dirt roads with a good friend recently, we were complaining to each other that we were not seeing much, even though we both knew full well that it was still to early for anything too exciting to be back yet.
One always hopes to see a winter raptor though, or an interesting mammal.
After awhile we got our wish by spotting this American Badger laying out in the middle of a field, enjoying the afternoon sun. This is the earliest I have seen this mammal. I doubt he was very impressed with the snow all around him when he woke up too early because of the warmer temperatures we were enjoying.



Something else of interest, was the adult Sharp-shinned Hawk that had recently been terrorizing the feeder birds in our backyard.
This shot was taken just after he took off from the fence :

5 comments:

holdingmoments said...

That hawk looks very similar to our Sparrowhawks here Nick, doesn't it. An excellent capture mate.

Nick S said...

Thanks Keith, yeah, they are quite similar. Basically our version of the Sparrowhawk really. They sure like to hunt Sparrows too !

Michael said...

Great catch! Thanks for sharing it.

Shelley said...

That badger almost looks friendly....almost! :-)
Love how you captured the hawks claws outstretched too.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

The Badger is cool, yet I really love the image you got of the Sharp-Shinned Hawk, lovely birds, but they certainly do love to hang near bird feeders~