Thieving Swainson's Hawks

When on a cross country road trip with an owl, a person needs to provide for their traveling companion. Usually I will just pick up some of the fresher road kills that I find for him. However, when Cecil gets exceptionally hungry, I am not above allowing the more suicidal ground squirrels to get hit by my own truck. Today it was of particular importance that Cecil got a bit of a snack, and for some reason there was absolutely no roadkill along the highways of Saskatchewan. It was several hours of driving before something finally came along. A ground squirrel ran under my tires of it's own volition on a gravel range road. Relieved, I had something to give my irritable owl, I backed up my truck. Before I could get out and pick up my prey, a Swainson's Hawk, chased by several blackbirds, swooped in and napped the recently killed ground squirrel. I guess this explains the mostly spotless Saskatchewan roads.