The Hawk on the Surfboard

The Hawk seem to like the Styrofoam floats I use on the pond to protect the goldfish when the heavy plant cover is missing. You can see his claws digging into the float to keep his balance. In my opinion, his claws digging into the Styrofoam is preferable to the claws digging into one or our goldfish. The second picture shows the Hawk flying off after leaving the float. The pictures shows his tail feathers spread and angled down to get maximum lift for the takeoff.