Bye Bye Birdie

Jules and I discovered a dead red tailed hawk on our walk yesterday morning. It was laying in the road, neck obviously broken, but unharmed other than that. I mean, what were the chances with all the speeding Audis and Volvos and BMWs racing off to the office that it wasn't utterly smooshed like most road kill? I carefully delivered the sad bird to the side of the road and returned to the scene of the crime in my car on my way to work.

It is really beautiful and remarkably light. I guess we all know that bird's bones are hollow so they can fly but I'm constantly surprised when picking up a bird just how airy a living thing (even dead) can be. But yes, I drove around all day with a dead bird in the back of my car, delicately folded into a plastic bag. Half way to work, it occurred to me that maybe the hawk was only stunned and I started casting a wary eye backwards, hoping to not see a sudden feathery eruption. These things aren't small when enclosed in a hatchback. Remember, I rescued a stunned road side hawk years ago on my way back from New Haven. A stupid suburban woman in a mini van slammed into the bird and simply drove on. (I saved it and drove it all the way to the Audubon center in Sharon CT, where it was allegedly nursed to health.)
In any event, the bird didn't awake from the dead an it was cold enough (no I am not talking weather...) so that it kept quite frozen all day. I showed the bird around at work; it was quite the conversation piece. And I can bet you that I was the only person at the Stop and Shop Plaza with a dead hawk in my car.
Here's a couple of details because how often do you get to see something like this up close:

Sort of sad! Makes me think of that poor giraffe Marius (?) that they "euthanized" in a zoo in Europe. Don't get me started; I'm seething over that whole mess. (He could have come to live with us, here at the BauHaus Chicken Coop. Maggie would have loved the company.)
Anywya, a shot of his feet:

Just a touch of blood! I feel badly as Bob and II suspected this is one of a pair of hawks that live (noisily) near our little pond. They do mate for life, but will rebond if one of the pair dies. And it's mating season!