Subject: [Tweeters] A WTF? moment
Date: Apr 13 18:56:22 2012
From: Rob Sandelin - nwnature1 at gmail.com


I went back in the late afternoon to Al Borlin Park as I had left my coat
along the river. As I dropped down the bank onto the gravel bar something
large moved in the shrubbery. Whoa! I couldn't make out mammal or bird at
first, then after more thrashing a red-tail hawk took off with a small cat,
yes a cat, in its talons. The hawk was having a hard time carrying its meal
and dropped again on the far side of the picnic area near Woods Creek. I
scampered up the bank and followed it, and finally found it on the ground
but no longer in possession of the cat. The bird flushed and flew downstream
and I could find no trace of any cat. I suppose a real ranger tracker type
might have found some blood, but I all had was the mystery of the
disappearing cat.



There is a feral cat feeding area in this park, which I guess is also
feeding hawks and probably coyotes as well.



Rob Sandelin

Naturalist, Writer, Teacher

Snohomish