VA Birders,
Yesterday (3/9/05) while driving home from Grundy on Rte. 83 my wife and I saw,
what I thought was a grouse, flying low, coming across a large, open lawn on
the right side of the highway. It managed to get across the roadway just in
front of the car in front of us. I could see that it was a small Sharp-shinned,
struggling to stay in the air with its heavy load. By the time we reached the
point where it had crossed the road, it was only about 20 feet away and only
about 5 feet above a grassy field. I could see a chipmunk dangling from its
talons. It flew on another 30 feet or so and finally came down on a grassy
slope. It was proceeding to eat its meal as we drove out of sight. I was
surprised to see that the chipmunk was such a load for it, but when you
consider that most of its prey has feathers and hollow bones, I suppose a
chipmunk would outweigh a bird by several ounces.
Enjoy the birds,
Roger Mayhorn
Grundy, VA
Buchanan County
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