[Bristol-Birds] The dark side of a Cooper's Hawk

Urban living for all types of wildlife has become a way of life.  

In Bristol we have Coyote, Red Fox, Gray Fox, Raccoon, Beavers, 
Bobcats, Black Bear, White-tailed Deer, Wild Turkey, Cooper's Hawks, 
Red-tails, Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls, Broad-winged Hawks, 
Nigh-Herons, Barn Owls, Stripped Skunk, Spotted Skunks, Least Weasels, 
Long-tailed Weasels, Mink, Fox Squirrels, Gray Squirrels, Chipmunks,
Flying Squirrels  and River Otters to just name a few that reside within 
the city limits.

That is just a corner of our Tri-City Metro area with a population of
460,000 people, according to the Census Bureau on 2007.

My Cooper's Hawks had been nesting across the valley in the pines on
Shirley Drive.  I have seen them chased by crows for years during the
nesting seasons.  More than once I went that two blocks to look for a nest.

Last night I was looking out the front window from my home about 12:20 a.m.
when what I thought was an apparent lightning strike hit at the intersection
near my house.  The clap was deafening and for a minute everything grew
so bright that when it subsided I couldn't see anything.  Then my eyes grew
accustom to the dark.  All of the lights were out everywhere except for a
thousand lightning bugs which came up from the foliage in some type of
response.  They soon stop blinking and settled back down.  I had not seen
that many since childhood :-)
I instantly thought about my Cooper's Hawk and
her nest which I believe has young.

I managed to get a quickie snapshot of her with
my palm-size digital camera Tuesday just before
she went back into the woods to hunt.

Across the streets an over mature very tall
pine tree finally had given it up and feel across
the road and into another neighbor's front yard.
It took out the three-phase power lines and a
utility pole so fast the lights didn't blink.
It was one and done with a thud and a ball of
fire.  No wonder I thought it was a wild bolt of lightning.

Trees continue to fall this morning from two straight evening storms and
more on their way today.  How much can my Queen Accepter's nerves
stand ?  When does the physical odds simply bring her nest down, spill
babies into the storm or put her tree down the hill so fast she cannot get
out herself ?
At left is one of two cars belonging to a 
friend who lost both under one tree.  There
are hundreds of homes and vehicles 
heavily damaged everywhere in Bristol.
A ride through some neighborhoods
is amazing.  My friend has talked to 
tree workers and it looks like it will cost
about $2,000 to get this tree off his 
property.

Neighbors out the street took cover on in the basement last night at the
peak of the storm as did Carolyn and I who have a two story home with
the lower level fully livable and half below ground.  The storm was wild.
My neighbors got trapped in their basement and rescue workers had to
come free them.

So who rescues our Cooper's Hawk nest ?  Everything seems to appear
in order up there in the crown of the White Pine but she has not been
seen this morning.  I hope she is simply off on a hunting trip just a few
trees over in the woods outback.  For the past couple of days she has
spent most of the day perched a hundred feet from her nest and keeping
a close eye on everything.  She is peaceful and alert but not nervous.


Cooper's Hawk's landscape has
changed to some degree.  She
sees a world where 
it doesn't look just right.  Limbs
are missing and my Honda 
Accord at the left is under
her perch and covered with large
limbs and debris which were
not there a day or two ago.  
Surely she takes notes of this.

Not only did I realize last night that my world of street lights, security
lights and house lights in general vanished within a split second as the
power went down but her world was significantly changed and quickly.

I suppose she broods the young at night or sleeps on a nearby limb.
How did she react to this sudden change ?  I guess she sleeps with
her head under her wing.  Maybe she doesn't look out and around
but nature just keeps her tucked in a protective position.

She couldn't ignore the constant roar just below her for the rest of
the night as blue lights flashed for hours, flares burned in intersections,
Several big trucks moved forward and back with the reverse alarms
beeping.  Chains saws cut into the night for hours.  A front-end loader
lifted massive portions of the trunk and dropped them back to the
side of the right-a-way with thuds.  Several men's voices called back 
and forth through the generated lights and spot lights flashing thru the tree
crowns.  Neighbors with kids talking and little voices screeching.  At
mid morning today two crews continue to replace the poles, cross amrs
and to shore up all the details of wiring around transformers.

Cooper's Hawk has not been seen since yesterday.

Birds nesting deep in woodlots or in the ridges and mountains only
live with the storm, rain, wind and cracking and falling timber.  This
strange world of man and his lights has become part of the night
life as usual for urban wildlife.  They learn to accept that and maybe
it is all they have ever know.  How have we  changed their lives?

Urban life brings all night sights and sounds that can be disturbing to
all of us including the life of Queen Accipiter.

I hope she survived two nights of storms and will have good luck with
the more on the way.  This is a quiet neighborhood with lots of homes
scattered through the wooded ridges and not too many folks out
moving around.  There is much more activity as people cut and
drag limbs -- not to mention my youthful next-door neighbor in sight of
the nest who is remodeling about everything on the outside of his
new home (working day and night every day of the week.)

The two of us can't take a lot of this.  Surely a week will be enough
if she can only bob and weave at just the right seconds.

Where is she now ?

Let's go birding.

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN

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