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When up on the rooftop there arose such a clatter. I stepped outside to see what was the matter.

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It was Chaser who we hadn’t seen for a while.

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I was wondering why the red squirrels had became scarce. We had counted seven around the bird feeder earlier.

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Chaser looked pretty graceful bounding from tree to tree.

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Who couldn’t love a face this cute.

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It is amazing how fast they can run up a tree.

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Like squirrels, marten can pivot at the hips reversing their hind feet so they can run down a tree as fast as they can run up it.

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Seconds after I took this photo I see a goshawk zipping through the trees. The hunter now becomes the hunted. Faster than I could get my camera up the goshawk drops in for the kill missing Chaser by inches. I can just imagine the fight that would have ensued.

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Chaser gets behind a tree and the goshawk drops to the ground to access the situation.

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They look at each other for several minutes before the goshawk try’s again. Chaser has the advantage now with the thick vegetation. The goshawk lands on one of the branches as Chaser moves deeper into the spruce. I’m thinking that Chaser knows the goshawk can’t get through the limbs fast enough so he starts moving back and forth like he is teasing the goshawk.

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Finally, Chaser lures the goshawk out towards the end of some of the thicker spruce branches and makes his move. He reverses direction jumping from the back of the tree. He hits the ground running and disappears in seconds. The disappointed goshawk fly’s away empty handed and gets hassled by a “murder” of crows. The marten was hunting the squirrels, the goshawk was hunting the marten, the crows were hassling the goshawk and I was thoroughly enjoying another outdoor adventure on the North Shore.

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