He then explodes towards his target.

It happened so fast I was surprised I managed to get a few shots in flight while hand holding my 700 mm!

I had no idea he had been successful. Luckily he landed at the same spot from where he took off. He brought a clump of grass back with him and then pulled out a meadow vole!

It took him no time to eat the vole so good thing the Canon 7D shoots at 8 frames/second in burst mode.

The lighting couldn't have been better. In another 10 minutes most of the light would be gone.

You can see his sharp beak in this shot.

Time to look for another vole! He still has the grass under his feet on the lamp post. It was an amazing end to birding in the Duluth area. Temperatures had dropped to -10 F but it was worth it!