Squirrel and Hawk

The hawk wasn't hungry, I could see that, and so, I think, could the squirrels. But hawk was young and maybe didn't quite know what it wanted. It sat atop the dead tree near Bear Mound, on one leg. Mixed signals; the high perch said it was hunting, the single leg stance showed it was relaxed and content. The squirrels felt confident enough to carry on with their feeding under the maple trees. Hawk looked a little confused, like it felt it should go after them since they were so close, but also that it couldn't be bothered. It probably didn't know how to interpret the signals it's body was giving it yet. I knew the feeling. I was like that when I was young, too. 

After a few minutes it dropped from the tree and flew half heartedly amongst the squirrels. The squirrels scattered, all of them making it to safety with little effort, and the hawk took a lower perch on another tree. Then the most interesting thing happened.

A black squirrel approached, climbed up onto the top of a tree stump, and lay down with it's back to the hawk, which was only a couple of metres away. Squirrel looked over it's shoulder a couple of times at the hawk, then settled into the stump, moving half onto it's back, exposing it's stomach. I'd seen this sort of behaviour before, it always amazes me. When squirrels see that a hawk is full of food and therefore no threat, they seem to tease it, or use it as an opportunity to prove to the other squirrels that they're tough. 

It reminded me of a time I was speaking to a Masai tribesman in Kenya. He said that a coming of age initiation for his tribe in the past was to creep up behind a rhino and place a stone on it's bum without it noticing. A rhino has bad eyesight but excellent hearing and sense of smell, so to be able to creep up on one through the bush takes some stealth, and goes some way to proving that you are ready to handle yourself in the bush, get married, be accepted as an adult, etc. 

I thought that perhaps the squirrel was either taunting the hawk, or playing with it, or using the opportunity to prove itself to the other squirrels. Whatever it was, I found it fascinating that the squirrel could see the hawk wasn't hungry, and that it had decided to react to that. And that the hawk wasn't interested in killing anything now it didn't need to. So many people think that animals are all about killing, eating, mating and then raising the kids and not much more, but spend a little time among them and it becomes clear that there's more to learn. 

The squirrel hopped down from the stump after a few minutes and climbed a tree opposite the hawk, and then approached the bird along a branch. It began staring hawk down from a metre away, and barking at it, and hawk just couldn't take it. Whether it was confused or not, or bored of being hassled or taunted, I'm unsure. But it flew off pretty quick. 

I've seen this before several times, a squirrel facing down a hawk which it knows isn't hungry. Sometimes the hawk flies at the squirrel and knocks it out of the tree, yet doesn't try to eat it. Like it just wants to show it who's boss. Mostly though it flies away. 

So that's the story of the painting. This is a watercolour I did mostly at the scene (albeit after the event), it's a study for a larger painting I want to do sometime soon, probably in acrylic.