Hooper and a Cooper

I love that as a birder, I have learned a few things to help me be more observant.
When all the birds at your feeders just disappear, what happened?

Lorelei and I brought our lunches over to the front window to watch the starlings eat all of my Zick Dough. She was marveling at the tiny white chevrons that starlings have in the Winter (she didn't say chevrons, she actually called them "checks").
I was gritting my teeth and wishing quick death to all of the freeloaders, when they suddenly and loudly departed. And everyone else did, too.

I asked Lorelei to look for hawks in the trees while I got my camera.

She called out that a hawk was in a pine tree, but it had just flown away. I went into the laundry room, which has a view of our "waiting tree" (where all of our raptors hang out waiting for a helpless morsel of food to fly by).

A juvenile Cooper's hawk was nicely fluffed out and conveniently perched in the sun.

No hunting, but it did stay around for about an hour and a half.


There was some pooping:




And plenty of preening:

I love this shot...Coop's have such nice floofy bloomers. Another bird who has floofy bloomers? Great horned owls. Seriously...if you get a chance to watch one, you will be envious of the padding they have back there.



Birds are rather flexible, aren't they?
(All the better to reach the oil gland by the butt, my pretty)

A new species....the Headless Ruffed Cooper's Grouse.


I went on with my day, but as the laundry isn't capable of washing itself, I was drawn back to the laundry room again and again.
At one point, eye contact was made:

Ooooo. Delicious shivers. I snapped a few photos and then averted my eyes (raptors don't like to be stared at)


This pic is thrown in just because it's fun and cute....
Hooper is a very tolerant dog. The girls can wrap him in blankets, or use him for a pillow or kiss him a million times a day. He takes it all in stride.


He can also balance ducks on his head.

Spare ham, missing cheese and the traditional Thanksgiving Coop

I didn't chase the Snowy Owl the other day. And I am glad I didn't because there have been no further reports of it.
The reason I didn't chase: As I was getting ready to leave that morning, Geoff and I got into an argument. About cheese.


Yeah, I said cheese.



Two minutes before taking Lorelei to school, he said to me, " Remember the cheese. "

Me: "Cheese? For what?"

G: "Lorelei's class feast today. It was on the newsletter. We need to bring in a bag of mild cheddar cheese, cubed."

Me: "Is there a particular reason you waited until now to tell me?"

G: "I thought you knew about it."


Well, we didn't have any cheese. Cubed or otherwise.

I threw him a seriously dirty look and a few choice words, grabbed Lorelei and flew to the local convenient store and paid $4 for a block of cheese. The teacher could just cube it herself.

All the life-bird-chase was just wrung out of me, so I went to Armleder and walked.

Here's the kicker: When I picked up Lorelei from school, I asked if her class enjoyed the cheese. I was thinking, "They better have shouted to God and the World that it was the best damn cheese they have ever been given."

Lorelei said, "We didn't eat the cheese."
Me: "What?! Why?........wait a minute. Did you tell your teacher you had the cheese, like I told you to tell her?"
Lorelei: (sheepishly) "No."

I looked in her bag. No cheese. What. The. Hell.
The cheese had been absconded.

So here's what I think happened. The teacher took my FOUR DOLLAR cheese home and served it on crackers for her family on Thanksgiving. That's what I think.
: )

My walk at Armleder did yield a life bird.
While taking a deer path to the river, I flushed a bird (more like nearly stepped on a bird!) in the underbrush. I saw brown and a reddish tail, a bird the size of a quail. I looked it up in Sibley's and found that it was a Northern Bobwhite. Life Bird #207!


Tuesday was Swami's birthday, and Swamette asked me to make a cake for him. The girls helped me (yeah, right. Lorelei made an egg explode all over me, the floor, herself...) make a square, two-layer chocolate fudge cake, with milk chocolate icing.

To cut all that chocolate, we crushed Mint Oreos and sprinkled the middle and the top of the cake. I have to say, it was pretty damn good.


(We didn't count out all of the candles to represent his age. Their smoke detectors are sensitive)


Thursday:
In what seems to now be a tradition, we were visited by the Thanksgiving Cooper's Hawk:


A most cooperative bird...sat there in a patch of sunlight, with a good background, for about 15 minutes.



A Ham Story:
Swametti, Swamette's mom, was supposed to bring a baked ham for Thanksgiving, to have alongside the turkey. She forgot to bring it (we forgive her....she's in her Eighties, for goodness sake), but Swamette just happened to have a ham in the fridge. This is testiment to just how organized she is.
Maybe you have to know her to appreciate the story, but it just blew me away. Just happened to have a big spare HAM.


(Swami and my Mom carve the Spare Ham)


I begged for the turkey carcass (how many times will you hear that sentence?) and right now, I am simmering fresh turkey noodle soup.
Hooper has gone postal about the aroma filling the house:

GIVE. ME. TURKEH.
NOW.
BEFORE I KEEL YOU.

Cooper's versus sharp-shinned

I have had requests to do an identification thing about Cooper's hawks vs. Sharp-shinned hawks.
I didn't have any pics of Sharpies, so I had to borrow.

Coops and Sharpies can be tricky to differentiate.
They are both accipiters, both are woodland birds and their markings are almost identical.
But a few things can tip you off:
1. Size: Coop's are crow-sized (15 inches long for males, 18 inches for females)
and Sharpies are jay-sized (9-11 inches for males, 12-14 for females)
BUT: There are exceptions...you might see a very small Coop, and mistake it for a Sharpie. so size is not always an indicator.

2. Head: Coop's have a dark gray "cap" that does not extend down the back of the head. Feathers also are raised in a bit of a crest in the back, which you will never see on a Sharpie.
Sharpies have a dark gray "hood" that DOES extend down the back of the head.
Remember: Coop's=CAP
Sharpies=HOOD


3. Body: Coop's have a "tubular" appearance, with a broad chest and thick body.
Stocky (think "TUBE").
Sharpie's have a broad chest and thinner hips, lending to a upside-down triangle.
Center of gravity looks HIGH (think APPLE).

4. Tail: The best indicator...
Coop's have a rounded tail with a broad white tip. The middle feathers are usually the longest.
Sharpie's have a squared tail, with a very thin white or gray tip.

5. Legs: Coop's legs are a bit thicker, Sharpies have pencil-thin legs. Both are yellow.

6. Flight: Coop's have a slower wing beat followed by a glide.
Sharpies are more erratic, with quicker beats followed by a glide.
In flight, a Coop's head will extend far beyond the shoulders, looking like a cross.
Sharpies have a much shorter neck, looking like a mallet.

Photo by Bill Diedrich

Sharp-shinned hawk. Note the "hood", the broad chest and narrow hips, the very thin terminal band on the squared tail and pencil-thin legs.

Cooper's hawk. Note the "cap", the thick body and wide white terminal band on the tail.

Photo by Chris Erion

Sharp-shinned hawk. Same thing: "Hood", thick body and slim hips (think "apple") and thin terminal band.

Photo by Patrick Lynch

This is a good picture to demonstrate size. This bird is no bigger than a blue jay.

Cooper's hawk. Thick body and "cap".

Any questions?