Great story of coopers and crows.
On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 10:08 AM Steve Brown <steve554b@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
We have been enjoying some American Crows and Cooper's Hawks in and around
our yard since Spring. It started when we realized that a pair of Cooper's
were building a nest high in the Pin Oak tree in our backyard. The
first-year female watched while the adult male gathered branches and
crafted the nest. We also noticed a group of Crows building a nest near the
top of a tall pine a few yards over. The two trees are only 50-75 feet
apart and we figured it could get interesting. We were correct!
Meg read an account on Cornell's website about crow nest building. It says
that the female crow builds the nest, while the male brings the sticks to
her, but not sticks from the nest tree. It also said that 2 to 4 helpers,
other adult crows, will help the pair build the nest by bringing sticks and
being attentive! Sure enough, we observed this fascinating behavior within
our group of five to six crows.
We were initially worried that the Cooper's nest wasn't going to succeed,
but after what seemed like forever, we started to see fuzzy heads in the
nest through a small opening in the leaves. Soon we also started hearing
the sounds of recently hatched crows and hawks. After both broods fledged,
the real fun began. The large group of 10 or so crows started visiting our
peanut and platform feeders daily. Huge crows trying to get themselves onto
a small, swinging platform feeder was fun to watch. Fledgling crows were
easy to spot by their gapes and the weird sounds they make - and their
begging for food. We also started seeing the fledged Cooper's Hawks making
practice flights. We had three new hawks and, we think, 5 new crows.
After a while the young hawks started to practice their hunting skills in
our backyard, which was hilarious to watch. They stalked large squirrels,
who seemed completely unafraid of the birds. When hawks tried to pounce on
them, the squirrels would only dodge the attack slightly and continue to
sit there, almost seeming to be playful and taunting the hawks. The hawks
looked goofy running after the squirrels, bunnies and chipmunks with their
wings spread out and flapping. They also pounced on and attacked sticks on
the ground to practice their skills. Eventually they got the hang of it,
and actually started catching some prey to eat. We imagined that the crows
and hawks appeared to interact playfully, but assumed that it was just a
result of their nests being so close that their "playgrounds" overlapped.
We started to see and hear our fledged birds less and less. Then after a
few days passed with no sign of them, we figured that our temporary "kids"
had left us. Happily though, the hawks, and (we think) our crow kids keep
coming back to visit. And, the surprising part for us is that the hawks and
crows still seem to hang out together and playfully interact after all this
time.
Today we watched as a group of about ten crows took their usual morning
stroll through our neighborhood street and yards. As they stood around in a
nearby yard, we were surprised to notice that two young Cooper's hawks were
also standing there among them. Another Cooper's was just above in low tree
branches. One of the hawks playfully "pounced" on a crow, who did a nifty
side-step, but didn't fly away! This is at least the third time we have
seen the crows and hawks, seemingly hanging out together and interacting,
since they left our yard. They are a gang, for now at least, and we're
happy they are still around!
--
Steve Brown
Jefferson, KY
