We had a close encounter with a prairie dog. He didn't pay much attention
to us. He was busy having a close encounter with a red-tailed hawk. Here
he is, cruising down the walking path, when the bird swoops in from our
left. We thought we were going to have a Wild Kingdom moment, but the hawk
didn't act like we expected, he was young and didn't know what to do for
sure. The prairie dog didn't act like we expected either. He ran until the
hawk got close, but then instead of ducking down at the last moment, he
stood up to fend the hawk off with his paws. It looked like he was trying
to punch the hawk, box him. The hawk was dissuaded enough that he diverted
and landed next to the prairie dog on the path.
So we had a prairie dog and a hawk standing next to each other, the dog
threatening the hawk with his fists whenever he got too close. The hawk,
helpless, had no momentum. I don't think a hawk can just walk up next to
its prey and stab it with a talon. He looked away. The prairie dog left.
Hawk flew up into a tree.
We didn't get a picture of the prairie dog. We did get one of the hawk.
