Archive for June 18th, 2016
Chipmunk Gibbage
Mary found the north end of a southbound chipmunk just outside the garden gate, at the foot of the utility pole that often serves as a hawk perch:
Chipmunk tail tip
Shortly thereafter, she found piles of gibbage atop the retaining wall by the basement door:
Raptor vs. Rodent gibbage
It looks too loose for an owl pellet, but hawks also blurp up the indigestible bits. We have definitely have a pair of Cooper’s Hawks nesting in the area again; most likely, this is what’s left of the south end of that chipmunk.
The next morning, we had a feeding frenzy out there:
Raptor vs. Rodent gibbage – feeding frenzy
I’m not sure if the snail over on the right is a participant or a bystander. It’s certainly outclassed by the slugs, which are basically soft-shell snails.
As dBm points out, nothing goes to waste in Nature:
Raptor vs. Rodent gibbage – cleanup squad
After the crowd left and the remains dried out a bit, one chunk had a tuft of brown-tipped fur with gray roots that definitely looks like it came from a chipmunk.
Good work, hawks: go, go, go!
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