Just as Mary got to watch a Cooper's hawk near her house yesterday, I had the thrill of watching one watching my feeders.
I couldn't see it until I uploaded the photos, but this one has yellow eyes, meaning it is a juvenile. The streaking on the breast also shows an immature hawk. As they age, the streaking becomes more reddish and is more "barred" than streaked.This is the second year I have seen juvenile Coop's in our yard. I would love to find the nest!
That darn red twig got in my way. My trees are showing signs of growing new branch tips.
In the upper left corner, you can see the hawk watching my feeders on the lower right.
That darn red twig got in my way. My trees are showing signs of growing new branch tips.
In the upper left corner, you can see the hawk watching my feeders on the lower right.It took off without a meal today. A chickadee was giving it royal hell from our crabapple tree, and one actually flew up to the tree right in front of the hawk ans started yelling at it. Pretty bold for a smaller bird...I have read that songbirds will torment the larger hawks like red-tails but will leave a Coop or Sharp-shinned alone, instead taking on a "sleeking" posture and sitting still.
Last night, we stopped at the VOA park right before dark to see any cool birds. All we saw was a red-tailed hawk and alot of rain. The girls like to hold my binoculars and "bird" with me.
12 comments:
Thanks for the lesson on the Cooper's Hawk. Looks like it was pouring rain last night - it was almost sideways raining here today. Your daughters are so cute with your binocs - what was Isabell awing over?
Pam:
The rain was crazy. But we are supposed to get snow tonight!
I had told the girls to smile and ham it up for the camera, and Isabelle likes to howl at me when I am taking pictures. Goofy kid.
There was a study published sometime in the last year that found that birds tend to mob the predators that they fear the most. Thus small birds like chickadees tend to put more energy into mobbing the small hawks like Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks and less into red-tails. I think the study was based on measuring the pitch/tempo of alarm calls for intensity.
Isabelle was reacting to seeing an Ivory-billed Woodpecker fly by in the rain just after Susan turned to take the photo. That is definitely an "I just saw an Ivory-billed Woodpecker" expression!
Hey Susan - that's a mighty fine looking hawk up in that tree! Keeping looking for him because I read that they make the same stops every day. My hawk came back on the following day but left without a meal. He has stolen a dove once that I know of. Thanks for the extra info about them.
Your girls are the cutest, "Oh, look at all the bewds! Mom, it's a Snowy Owl!!!"
A cooper's hawk blows through my back yard at least once a week. Usually I only notice when the yard gets quiet and still. Love the picture of your girls- too cute!
I had a cooper's in my yard a month or two ago. Since them I keeping seeing posts about them. I was told that mine was a juvenile too. I keep waiting for it to come back. I find these big raptors so exciting. It is a bit weird to think that my feeders are attracting food for a predator but that is how nature works. Besides house sparrows are cute but definitely not an endangered species.
Susan- thanks for stopping by. Coopers are great hawks- we have named ours Hannibal. Not that we anthropomorphize or anything.
Wayne at sparkleberrysprings.blog is discussing the climate today in an interesting post. I'm off to enjoy it, not oblivious to the issues, but my head and fingers are not coordinated this morning and every time I try to make a rational comment, glop appears. So I left you a little post at my place...
Cool Coopers, Susan! Love the looks on the girls' faces. We're growing up the next generation of birders! :)
On another topic (the previous one), you've been in MY head lately too. I bought all organic foods last night and wanted to point you to a "cool" green website: ideal bite. Just quick tips on being green. I like their emailed newsletter.
such a wonderful shot of this coopers hawk! Those sticks always seem to get in my way also! Keep up the great work!
You're getting some great bird shots. And what a darling photo of the girls "birding"! They'll surely grow up with that appreciation of the avian world!
Those kids are TOO CUTE! :-)
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