Dining and Dashing in Siouxland, Sioux City

A Cooper’s Hawk eats a dark eyed junco song bird on the railing of a deck it killed in the backyard of a residence in Sioux City, Iowa March 31, 2022. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

I enjoy watching nature in Siouxland and have begun spending more time doing that, as well as spending time at local parks and preserves. That said, I was never really interested as a youth in watching those Wild Kingdom television show that showed nature in all its glory, including the lesser creatures being eaten by the bigger creatures.

As A friend recently said, that’s life in the animal kingdom. And I get that. I just don’t have to watch it. And so when it’s up close and personal outside a window, nature becomes all too real.

A Cooper’s Hawk eats a dark eyed junco song bird on the railing of a deck it killed in the backyard of a residence in Sioux City, Iowa March 31, 2022. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

A Cooper’s Hawk eats a dark eyed junco song bird on the railing of a deck it killed in the backyard of a residence in Sioux City, Iowa March 31, 2022. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

I didn’t see the take down, but watched through a window at the back of a house and of course, shot a few photographs. I quietly tried to slip out a side door to continue shooting, but not through a window, but the hawk was having none of that as it probably wanted to defend its mid morning snack and continued its meal elsewhere.

Jerry Mennenga

Sioux City, Iowa

A Cooper’s Hawk eats a dark eyed junco song bird on the railing of a deck it killed in the backyard of a residence in Sioux City, Iowa March 31, 2022. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

Even though it blends into its surroundings, a Cooper’s Hawk looks about as it eats a dark eyed junco it took from a backyard of a residence in Sioux City, Iowa March 31, 2022. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)