My friend and co-worker Krissi had an unfortunate encounter with a red-tailed hawk on her way to work Monday. Very unfortunate for the hawk, which caught its head in the side-view mirror of her minivan and was killed. Moderately unfortunate for Krissi, who got quite a scare, will have to replace the mechanized side-view mirror, and who is still feeling guilty about the hawk even though there was nothing she could have done to avoid it.

I feel very sorry for the hawk, indeed, but I'm still marveling over the picture Krissi sent me (will place behind a cut, and will link it to a larger version if you want more detail). The hawk had just caught a mouse and was trying to fly away with it--the mouse and a piece of grass are still firmly clutched in the hawk's talons, even as the car firmly clutches the hawk in a way. The field mouse's revenge, perhaps.