Death of a Rat

This magnificent looking red tailed hawk has just captured an unlucky

local rat. She -- I think it's a female -- caught it almost right in

front of me on the ground in a heavily shaded area just inside the

Grand Army Plaza side of the park. To eat in peace, she took it up

into the tree, and was kind enough to let me take about 100

photographs. This was one of the more dramatic shots.

What a shot. Morbid, but amazing at the same time. You were lucky enough to be able to shoot away to capture this scene. It doesn't look like the lighting was cooporating seeing as the bird looks to be backlit. But it seems exposed (or postprocessed) quite well. You might want to contemplate burning down those highlights a tad. Greg