Life and death in the snow...

I just happened to see a breathtaking life and death struggle when I looked out my window today around noon. I saw something large in the snow where nothing had been before. I froze and stared, trying to make sense of the scene playing out before my eyes. There was a very large bird there in the snow, wings outstretched. Then in a blink it flapped and lifted, a small

dark rodent suspended from its beak. It flew across the field to the woods in slow motion, and took my breath with it.

Of course I had to go and read the story written in the snow. I could see a small tunnel coming up out of a drift. Some hapless vole had been exploring. The little marks you see coming up from the center of the photo are the prints the little animals body made as it hopped across the snow. The depression at the top of the photo was caused by the body of a large red tailed hawk as it landed. And the lines that look as if someone dragged their fingers in the snow (1, 4, 5 and 6 o'clock) were caused by the outstretched wings. As I looked around the meadow I saw two other places where a vole had burrowed up, up to the bright sun. And I could see where a bird, very probably that same hawk, had landed and brushed its bright feathers into the powder. I don't know who won those other battles there, but I did see the outcome from the struggle pictured above.

I don't know what that little vole was looking for as it dashed across the canvas of white, but I do know that a hawk found what he sought.