Robber Flies (Family Asilidae)

Robber flies or assassin flies (Family Asilidae). They are powerfully built, bristly flies with a short, stout proboscis enclosing the sharp, sucking hypopharynx.

The name "robber flies" reflects their notoriously aggressive predatory habits; they feed mainly or exclusively on other insects and as a rule they wait in ambush and catch their prey in flight.

I have seen them in USA, Israel and in India.

#World RobberflyDay

References:

• Asilidae (Wikipedia)
• iNaturalist records 7332455, 366682

Red Tailed Hawks feeding on Grey Squrrel

Today morning at about 8 am while walking to the university, I noticed a Red Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) sitting in the grass from a distance. I was curious to see what it was up to, but I was getting late for work, so I kept walking, obviously keeping an eye on the bird. I noticed it was holding something under its paw and was trying to feed on it.



Around noon, when I returned for lunch, I was surprised to see a Red Tailed Hawk on the same location. (It could have been the same bird). I rushed home to get my camera. The location was right by the sidewalk and I was worried some passer by might disturb the bird.



 I was really happy to see the bird was still there when I returned with my camera in a few minutes. But also as suspected, a person passing by noticed the bird and was trying to approach it with his cell phone camera in hands.



Next few minutes I spent observing and photographing the bird feeding on a Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Grey Squirrels are fairly common rodents in Easter Kansas where I observed it. They feed on tree buds and nuts. They tend to bury the nuts when they are plentiful and use them in winter when food is scarce. They use their keen sense of smelling to find them back.

It carefully looks at the food.

Lifted a piece of squirrel ... 

... and twisted on its side.

It was taking long pauses in between and checking out the vicinity.

The hawk noticed me and gave an angry look...

... and then continues enjoying the meal.

On the watch tower nearby another hawk appeared from nowhere.

The hawk continues to feast on what was left of the unfortunate squirrel. 

The Hawk took off and joined the other on on the observation tower.

Finally what was left of the squirrel was this.

Red tailed hawk in the field

Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is one of the common most hawks of North America. As the name suggests it is a bird of pray and one of the largest hawks (Buteo). Its range and numbers have expanded due to human habitations in American plains.  They are popular with falconers in US, because they are so common and easily trained as capable hunters.

I observed this bird hunting for field mice in a community garden. Unfortunately after catching the mice the bird flew off  and I could not capture a photograph.

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) in late fall

Common buckeye or Buckeye (Junonia coenia), is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family, seen in North America. It is named for its conspicuous target-shaped eyespots.

Junonia is a genus know as Buckeyes and Pansies, which has origin in Africa, which then dispersed in Asia and then elsewhere. Has about 30-35 species world over.

• Junonia coenia (Wikipedia)
• Junonia (Wikipedia)
• http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01425.x/abstract
• https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Junonia-coenia