Cooper's hawk

This morning I ran my regular route and saw a couple of coyotes at 211th street. They were a very healthy pair following their normal route entering Gray's woods from the west as I have often seen them do. I saw a muskrat taking grass back to his lair in the little creek flowing out of Gray's woods. There were an amazing number of deer tracks there as well. As I drove east on 211th street I passed a Cooper's hawk on the ground with a dead bird. I drove on past and turned around and reapproached him slowly. Amazingly, he did not fly. He started calling to his mate, who I heard responding. I was able to get to within twenty feet and could see his prey was a cardinal. His calls made me wonder if he has hurt. His posture and movements were unusually slow as if he may have hit something and been stunned. I thought perhaps that he might be wanting to share the catch with his mate, but I have a hard time seeing them sharing a kill. I moved my van slowly closer and he flew, almost hitting my windshield. He was very robust and flew as if he was not at all hurt. He perched in a tree and continued calling to his mate. Later I stopped at Stony Creek at the Pilgrim road bridge which has been a hot spot for mink and saw the distinctive tracks of a mink in the fresh frost on the ice on the edge of the creek. I once had a mink run almost over my feet while standing motionless there. I have also seen one feeding on a deer carcass some dumbass had dumped inn the creek.I guess it was good for the mink,, who ate it down to the waterline and also for the massive snapping turtles who live there. Working at the shop later I used up all the maple legs I cut earlier this tear, attaching them to plywood tops that I salvaged from Hickory Designs. Looking forward to the Indie Vintage show at the Fountains in Carmel January 26th.