Critter Cams Capture Four-Legged Lawn Mowers, Steely-Eyed Mice-Eaters

Patch contributor Thomas Black reports that a hard-working goat herd are being paid "alternate worker" wages by the East Bay Municipal Utitlity District while trimming grass at the 925-acre Lafayette Reservoir so he took a few shots of the herd for posterity.

Tom captured these images with a Nikon D7000 and he said he wasn't the only shutterbug smitten by the herd. Dozens of other Rez visitors stood in a row along the rim, snapping away with smartphones.

Apparently the herd is surrounded by a mildly electrified fence, as one amateur photographer discovered when she strayed too close.

And then we have Lafayette resident Rob Blits, out and about south of Moraga when he got that "someone's watching me" feeling and looked up -- to find that someone was watching him.

"There is a pair of hawks apparently having hatched eggs in one of the two main trees...," Rob reported. "You can spot them bringing prey (mice mostly) to the nest to feed the young if one walks onto the grass area and look back at the tree near the top."

Aw, nothing like neatly rendered mice entrails for a bonding family meal -- but the Hawk Family is welcome at our house any time they want to break up their diet with a little gopher.

Bob isn't sure if his hawks are red-tails or Cooper's. Any help out there?

Thanks for the pictures, men!