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Mac Birding Moderator Reged: 12/14/05 Posts: 3379 Loc: The Great State of Nebraskey Cooper's hawk ate the whole thing...       03/27/15 11:42 AM Edit   Reply   Quote   Quick Reply   I don't how familiar this board is with the Cooper's hawk. They are, at best, a medium-sized bird of prey weighing between 12 to 25 oz. Given the size I assume it was a female. Wednesday I had one land in a low-hanging old willow tree that is situated in a wetland, some 60 ft. from my condo. She had caught a rabbit of decent size, and she wanted to dine in privacy. I watched this hawk systematically rip apart and devour the bunny. She let the guts fall in strings to the ground, as well as the head. All the rest was ripped up and swallowed. Most of the skin and fur was stripped away, but some was consumed with meat shreds. It took one hour, fifteen minutes for her to consume the rabbit. Towards the end, she would take frequent pauses, then resume. I have seen lots of things in nature, but that was a real close-up of where one animal must die to feed others. Post Extras

Entire topic Subject Posted by Posted on Cooper's hawk ate the whole thing... Mac 03/27/15 11:42 AM Re: Cooper's hawk ate the whole thing... sptsman   04/06/15 06:21 AM

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