just had to share this with people that can respect a good bird story 
anyway, about 2 months ago i moved to my new place and of course, the first thing i did was check and see if there are any cool birds in the area (yes, my wife things that i am very strange, instead of checking to see if there are hot girls living near by, i check to make sure that there are birds). anyway, on the first day i noticed that i have a pair of red tail hawks living on top of the building but i haven't had a chance to take any pics due to my work. fast forward to today, i go out to the balcony to smoke a cigarrate and as soon as i go out, i hear tons of birds screaming. out of nowhere, i see the hawk flying like a rocket away from the tree and he is being chased by a mob of angry grackles. it seems like they have a nest up there and the hawk was trying to steal their newly etched younglings. of course, by the time i grabbed my camera, everything was over (the hawk lost the fight and was really taking a beating from 20+ birds). about 10 mins ago, i went out for another smoke and i saw the same hawk flying into the same tree but this time, he left with a young bird in his talons. i guess that hawks really are smart and he knew exactly when to come back and get what he was after. i am pissed that i wasn't able to get any of this on film (or cf card) but i can't tell you how happy i was to actually witness the two events
