Dog walking in the winter can be quite the chore. Rain, snow, freezing temperatures, biting winds…it’s not always a pleasant experience. But sometimes you get to see the most incredible things. We’ve seen a coyote hunting in a field. We’ve watched deer wander across the trail. We’ve seen bald eagles perched in trees or soaring over our heads. And yesterday we saw something we’d never seen before.

 

Just before we got home, I noticed two birds. Each bird was sitting on a different peak of the same house. One was a crow, the other was a hawk. The sight of the two of them so close together was unusual, but the really interesting part was what the crow was holding. The crow had the remains of a small bird in its claws. My guess is that the hawk killed the bird and then the crow came in and stole it. The hawk was waiting nearby to see if it could reclaim some of its prize, but the crow didn’t seem interested in letting it go.

 

Now here’s the difficult thing about seeing these things when you’re walking a dog: Trying to get your camera out while hanging onto a leash (because your dog is staring intently at the birds you want to photograph), taking your gloves off and trying not to drop them, and then trying to get the camera zoomed in and focused before your subjects fly away. Yesterday, it didn’t happen. So there’s no photographic evidence of this amazing sight, but because A.J. and I were out on our walk we did get to experience it.

 

So even if you don’t have a dog, and even if the weather isn’t ideal, get out and go for a walk. You’ll be surprised at what you might see.