Crime Scene

A discarded, delicately veined feather of a plucked titmouse.

We watched a small hawk (Sharp-shinned or Cooper's - it was stationery) standing on a log plucking feathers from its dinner a few nights ago. It didn't leave much else at the scene of the crime when I combed the site the next morning for clues to the story.

Amidst the variety of feathers, I found one intricately scaled claw and part of its bill, being carried away by an ambitious ant.