Red Shouldered Hawk Eating Black Racer Snake

Video:  Red Shouldered Hawk Eating Black Racer Snake

A beautiful Red Shouldered Hawk has caught a Black Racer Snake and proceeds to eat it on a dead pine branch in the Backyard. Hawks sit on fences and watch for young snakes active in  the daytime - not only are they easy to catch, but they are like tender gourmet food for the hawks. 

The Red-shouldered Hawk is one of the most beautiful and distinctively marked hawks in North America. Adults are barred with rusty-red on the underparts and have bright rufous shoulders. Their underparts are dark brown, and the tail is black with 4 or 5 narrow white bands. When in flight, pale crescents in the wings are visible from below. They breed from northern California south to Baja, in the Midwestern United States east to New Brunswick; and south to the Florida Keys and Texas. Habitat. In Florida, Red-Shouldered Hawks nest in a wide variety of woodland habitats, but they are particularly identified with cypress swamps and river bottomlands. It most frequently still-hunts from a relatively low, inconspicuous perch but may also forage from a low, coursing flight (Palmer 1988; Johnsgard 1990). Its diet is characterized by sluggish, easily captured animals, such as toads, frogs, snakes, rodents, and small birds and their nestlings (Kimmel and Frederickson 1981, Palmer 1988, Kale and Maehr 1990). Typical nest sites are located in large mature trees with good canopy cover. A bulky well-built nest is usually placed a little more than halfway up the tree in a major fork (Kimmel and Frederickson 1981, Bednarz and Dinsmore 1982, Palmer 1988). Usually two whitish eggs marked with brown are laid and incubated for approximately 33 days. The young birds fledge at 40 to 45 days of age (Palmer 1988; Johnsgard 1990). Seasonal Occurrence. In Florida, Red-shouldered Hawks breed from January through May (Kale and Maehr 1990), or through June (B. Millsap, pers. commun.). Most birds reside in Florida, but the states' population is augmented in September and October by fall migrants from northern states. 

Source: http://legacy.myfwc.com/bba/docs/bba_RSHA.pdf

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Video:  Red Shouldered Hawk Eating Black Racer Snake

Gray Squirrels Eating Pine Cone Nuts

Video: Gray Squirrels Eating Pine Cone Nuts

Pine Nuts are tasty! Squirrels are excited about a bumper crop of Longleaf and Slash Pine Cones this Fall. It takes much hard work, but under each "leaf" of the giant cones is a tasty pine nut that squirrels - and humans - love. The Longleaf Pine's cones are huge up to a foot long and heavy - weighing more than the squirrel. Once the squirrel has chewed a skinny "handle" it will try and drag the cone to a safe place to finish them off. This is also great food for humans. Stands of Longleaf pines once covered much of the southeastern US, but today they are becoming rare due to past timber harvesting and rampant development as they take many decades to reach up to 60-100 feet tall. Even the more common in this area Slash Pine's are getting rarer. They are both a critical part of the natural habitat and the conservation area behind the Backyard has a rare stand of original native longleaf pines exceeding 60 feet. Toward the end of the video you will see another squirrel in a slash pine eating pine nuts and note the difference in the cones.

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Video: Gray Squirrels Eating Pine Cone Nuts

Red Bellied Woodpecker Eating Nectar of Giant White Bird of Paradise

Video:  Red Bellied Woodpecker Eating Nectar of Giant White Bird of Paradise

Red Bellied Woodpecker feasts on the nectar of the Giant White Bird of Paradise - an amazing tropical plant that is over 20 feet tall and whose flowers dwarf this rather large woodpecker. They are able to grow this tall in Florida after several warm winters without a freeze. They are bird magnets at certain times of the year.

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Video:  Red Bellied Woodpecker Eating Nectar of Giant White Bird of Paradise

Yellow Rumped Warbler Eating Brazilian Peppers

Video: Yellow Rumped Warbler Eating Brazilian Peppers

Yellow Rumped Warbler hovering to eat the ripe berries of the Brazilian Pepper Tree. The Yellow Rumped Warblers aka "Butter Butts" have returned for winter. Not ones to come to feeders they scour the trees for small bugs and have adapted to take advantage of the ripening of the Brazilian Peppers in December to provide an arrival feast. The Pepper Trees are invasive and near impossible to get rid of and the birds do their part to scatter the seeds across the landscape.

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Video: Yellow Rumped Warbler Eating Brazilian Peppers

Robin, Goldfinches, Juncos, and Towhees Eating Devil's Walking Stick Berries

Video: Robin, Goldfinches, Juncos, and Towhees Eating Devil's Walking Stick Berries

Devil's Walking Stick trees (Aralia spinosa) provide a bounty of purple berries in early fall that is a feast for birds such as American Robins, Dark Eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches and Eastern Towhees. You'll hear many other birds calling in the background. This is a great native plant (Eastern U.S.) to develop in the yard for bird lovers especially at a transition from grass to forest. 

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Video: Robin, Goldfinches, Juncos, and Towhees Eating Devil's Walking Stick Berries