Several times I've seen this with larger hawks. Twice with Northern Harrier and once with a Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA).
The first incident with a Northern Harrier happened along SR-17 and the intersection of Trout Lodge Road. I saw a huge commotion on the ground. Dust was flying everywhere. Quickly I saw that a Northern Harrier had something on the ground. Immediately I was worried since it was very close to a known Burrowing Owl den. The fight continued for 10-15 seconds then stopped. As the wind blew the dust away the Northern Harrier was standing upright on the ground. As I slowly rolled the vehicle forward to get a look at what she (it was a female harrier) lifted off. She had a sizable rattlesnake in her talons. One talon gripped the snake firmly in the middle and the other gripped the snake firmly behind the head. It was incredible to watch. Alas no photos were forthcoming as I was so intent on the battle I forgot to grab the camera.
The other was a harrier (male) that swooped across the road and landed on something. In this case the visibility was better since it was winter and there was snow on the ground. Feathers were flying everywhere but I still couldn't see what the harrier was trying to catch.Then a wing flopped up and I could see it was a mallard drake. Apparently the duck had been wounded by a hunter but was still alive. Never one to pass up an easy meal the harrier had pounce on the waddling duck. I snapped a few photos as the harrier began to dissect his meal. I watched for a good 15 minutes while the harrier consumed the breast of the mallard. I was only about 90 feet away and several cars passed by as I watched but he continued to eat, paying me and the other cars no mind.
The RTHA was not as exciting as it was far off. I was in the Grand Coulee near Blue Lake looking at loons when a small flock of Rock Pigeons flew over to the cliff and landed. As I turned back I caught something out of the corner of my eye. It was a RTHA in full stoop. The hawk flew directly at the pigeons. For some reason the thought he might be after the pigeons didn't cross my mind. I got the hawk in the binoculars and watch as the hawk raced toward the cliff. About the time I thought he was going to crash into the cliff the pigeons spied the hawk and flushed. It was a brilliant maneuver on the hawks part as the pigeons escape routes were all one dimensional. The could go up, down, or sideways but that was all. A sheer cliff to their back had put them into a bad place. As the flushed helter-skelter the hawk put on the brakes and plucked one of the pigeons out of the air and lightly sat down on the shelf where moments before 9 pigeons had sat. I never saw that again but I am certain that wasn't the first time that hawk had used that maneuver to catch a meal.
Doug
On Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:08:13 -0700, Jim Betz via Tweeters <tweeters...> wrote:
Hi,
Yesterday, when I was leaving I-5 for 11 (Chuckanut Drive) and was
just exiting the
roundabout on the West side of the freeway - a dark-colored bird
streaked across
the road in front of me and into the back side of the last bush before
the open
fields. There was one furious shaking of that bush and then I saw an
RTH come
out of the bush and cross back in front of me - this all took just a few
seconds,
no more than 10 or 20. As it recrossed the road I could see a medium-sized
bird in its talons ... probably a robin, Twohee, or some kind of black
bird ... but
not large enough to be crow-sized. Looking in my rear view mirror I saw
it go up
towards the top of a pole but had to look away for traffic before actually
seeing it land.
The only other times I've seen RTH with prey have been a few rodents
(voles
probably) in the vicinity of the East 90 and once on the ground close to
Maupin Road on Fir Island with a Green-winged Teal (consuming).
I've seen Great Blue Herons with/taking prey quite often. And Bald
Eagles
on a pole consuming a duck. And the occasional Kestrel with a vole/mouse.
But, as I said, it is usually after the actual "catch".
I once saw and photographed an Osprey making repeated drops into the
shallow water at Ship ... but it always came up empty (that day/that time).
Wonderful to see the actual kill happening rather than the much more
common "sitting on a pole or wire looking around for movement".
