The other day a co-worker came walking up with a stack of prints saying "You've got to see these!" I took them from his hand and reached for my reading glasses because at first I wasn't quite sure if I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Truth be told, the objects of my attention on the first print I looked at couldn't have been more that 3/8" tall - not much area in something as small as a 4x6 print. There were four in the series and this one was the closest of them:

The Hawk and the Egret (photo courtesy Daytona Beach International Airport - click to view large)
After closer inspection I was able to determine that the victim was a Cattle Egret. That was the easy part. I still haven't come to a final decision as to who the predator is and had been leaning towards juvenile Cooper's Hawk but there are just some things about it that don't fit. I've checked most of the resources I have available and the best I can come up with now is a Red-shouldered Hawk that is possibly in an intermediate molt (from juvenile to adult, perhaps?). Time to ask the experts, no?

It was a couple of days before the airport came to pick their photos up and, when they did, I asked permission to use them here on the blog. I think they must have been taken with a cheapo point-and-shoot with 800 speed film since they are terribly grainy under about 10X magnification. Needless to say I wish I coud have been there to see this with a long telephoto. Here's a tight crop from the full frame image above:

The Hawk and the Egret Cropped

You know, it is not the least bit difficult to imagine a Cattle Egret being taken by a Bald Eagle.

But this?

Nature never ceases to amaze.