Re: Hawk attack

[Brenda Kidman <bkidman at gmail dot com>]

Hi John,

I have a minimum of two Sharpie's that visit my yard, sometimes at the same
time.  I get at least one visit a day.  Even with all of that activity I
have never seen one catch something.  I have watched them hopping around th
e
trees, chasing finches.  They will sit, motionless for half an hour, just
watching.  I have a pile of brush against a fence for the sparrows and they
will actually sit on top of it, peering into it intently.  It must give the
sparrows inside a heart attack!

I live in South Weber.  We get a Cooper's about once a week or so, but we
feed Sharpies daily.  It's all part of the circle!

Brenda


On 12/11/05, John Morgan <jmorgan480@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Kris's "Looking in to black eyeballs" message encouraged me to spend a
> little more time watching what goes on at my feeders. Under the
> assumption that hawks attack our feeders more often than we expect but
> we're not watching at the time, I always have a shred of hope that I'll
> get to witness such things--not out of any joy of seeing any bird become
> a meal, but solely to see hawks perform their incredible flying skills.
>
> Rarely does one get to see the prelude to such hawk attacks. Today was
> different.
>
> I'd been casually watching over a period of several hours today. At
> about 3:30 p.m during one of my casual stops to watch the Mourning Doves
> pecking at the seeds on the deck table while House Finches duke it out
> at the thistle and sunflower seed feeders, and in hopes that my Northern
> Flicker would be at the suet, I scored on all three species.
>
> But something was amiss.
>
> A lone dove was frozen on the deck railing (not unlike their normal lazy
> roosting behaviors), the Flicker was frozen in kind of a weird position
> at the suet, and the one or two Finches remaining were looking kind of
> odd. Something was up, I concluded. It was very unlike the Flicker to
> sit frozen for more than two seconds, yet 20 seconds had passed without
> a move. "These birds are being freaked out by something," I said to
> myself.
>
> Scanning the trees that line the back fence, I noticed a largish shape
> in a tree 100' to the northwest. Obsured by some of the bare Elm
> branches, it looked somewhat like another Flicker. The bird was facing
> away from me. I called Carma (wife) over to see, and we both watched for
> a few seconds. As I ran to get the binoculars, I heard Carma shriek
> fearfully. DARN!!! The young Cooper's had taken flight, careening right
> across our deck in an attacking dive and I had missed it. Double darn!
> The experience rather gave my wife the chilly-willys. She said she had
> closed her eyes at the point of imminent capture. I scolded her properly
> for not watching! She said she heard a screech of some sort as the bird
> flew past.
>
> I did find it in the neighbor's tree to the south, empty footed.
> Positive ID made. Whitish tummy feathers. Immature Cooper's Hawk. Carma
> thought sure he'd snagged a Finch in the attack, but there was no bird
> in its possession. Minutes later it flew back north for another nice
> view, then away to the west.
>
> What's interesting to me is how the birds froze. Thinking they'd be
> invisible? Frozen with fear? Interesting that the hawk would attack from
> a close visible position with any hopes of success. Over-confidence?
> Immaturity? Are Cooper's that good at catching birds in flight?
>
> Any comments to support this illustration of Cooper's Hawk behaviors are
> welcome. I'd like to learn more about them.
> John
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