DALLAS -- Jim Burks was playing golf at the area Red Oak Golf Course in early June. He was about to tee off when he noticed a large hawk flying across the fairway. The hawk was carrying something in its talons.

To Burks, a Glenn Heights, Texas, resident, it appeared the hawk held a bundle of grass. The golfer figured the bird was working on its nest. Then the hawk lost its grip and the bundle fell into the fairway. When it hit the ground, Burks was sure he saw something fall out of the bundle. He was right. It was a baby squirrel.

"I figured a squirrel on the ground would be in a heap of trouble if spotted by a hawk, but I never heard of a hawk grabbing an entire squirrel nest and taking off with it," Burks said.

Neither had I, but it proves what every alert nature observer knows -- if you keep your eyes open, you will frequently see something in nature you've never seen before.

For the uninitiated, squirrels sometimes live in tree cavities, but they will also construct a bird-like nest.

Burks didn't see what transpired before the hawk lost its dinner. The hawk might have seen the mother squirrel enter the nest, or the bird could have been perched close enough to hear the baby's squeaky cries. Somehow, the hawk knew there was a squirrel in that bundle of leaves.

The baby squirrel was still alive when Burks found it. He placed it in the woods in hopes the mother might retrieve it. More likely, a feral cat or coyote found it first.

I once watched a Cooper's hawk catch a female cardinal in a bush about 20 yards from my home office window. I feed birds in the backyard and knew the Cooper's hawk made an occasional pass to see if any of them were getting careless.

When I first noticed the commotion in the thick bush, I thought the limbs were shaking under the weight of a squirrel. Then I saw the hawk fly out, carrying the cardinal.

I've found the carcasses of a couple of other victims, their breasts stripped clean of meat, but that's the only time I've seen the Cooper's hawk strike.

My wife was dove hunting at a water hole one afternoon when she watched a long, green snake make a lightning quick charge down the bank and grab a small frog at the water's edge before the frog could react. The snake then retreated up the bank and leisurely swallowed the frog from the relative safety of a thick bush.

The frog wasn't happy about being snake food, and its plaintive cries continued for nearly 10 minutes.

In Mexico years ago, I was riding in a fishing boat when we went into a cove loaded with blue-winged teal. Teal is one of the smallest duck species, and one of the fastest. The teal were startled by the boat. Fifty or more flew directly away from us.

The commotion attracted the attention of a hunting falcon that flew past us and into the flock of teal. I remember thinking the falcon blew by us like we were sitting still, and it was easily moving twice as fast as the teal. When it encountered a duck in its flight pattern, the falcon struck the teal with its talons.

It could not control the duck, however. The teal went to the water, where it dove to escape the aerial attack. We watched as the falcon circled for awhile, then went looking for an easier meal. I don't know if the duck recovered, but it was one of those natural dramas that occur millions of times a day. I felt lucky to have been a witness.