[bcbirdclub] Cooper's Drama

  • From: "Roger Mayhorn" <mayhorn@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "BCBC Listserve" <bcbirdclub@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:14:38 -0400

This morning I awoke to cloudy skies, a temperature of 34 degrees and a touch 
of snow on the tops of bird feeders and nest boxes.

Shortly after rising I was standing at the window doing my morning survey of 
the yard and surroundings to see if any night creatures had left any signs of 
their passing. On the platform feeder were a Mourning Dove, a female cardinal 
and a female cowbird. 

A dark object coming in very quickly about forty yards behind the feeder caught 
my eye. In a fraction of a second my brain told me it was a bird, then a hawk, 
and I realized that it was rocketing directly toward the unsuspecting birds on 
the feeder. Over the years of living here on the mountain with the woods at the 
edge of the yard I have had many hawks to come out of nowhere and try for birds 
at the feeders, but this is the first time I ever saw the hawk before the birds 
did.

Suddenly the birds became aware of the danger and burst into action. The dove 
flew left and the cardinal and the cowbird flew right, but by this time the 
very small Cooper's hawk was almost on them. It turned its underside toward me 
as it banked sharply left to make the turn around the front of the feeder, 
closing the gap between it, the cardinal and the cowbird. The reddish barring 
of its chest and the stripes of the flaring tail stood out in the morning 
light. The brighter, yellow talons contrasted with the darker body feathers.

By now the gap between predator and prey was nearly closed, and the smaller 
birds were at the limits of their flying speed. The hawk quickly turned on its 
back, coming under the two smaller birds, its yellow talons flashing upward, 
closing on the cowbird. The cowbird understandably had a sudden rush of 
adrenalin and pulled upward at the last moment, just as the talons closed on 
empty air about two inches beneath her.

By the time the hawk righted itself the birds were out of reach, so it broke 
off the chase. It flew to a post near the yard pond, sat there for a few 
moments, then slipped silently back into the woods, where I was sure a similar 
drama would be played out again.

Below is a photo of the hawk perched on the post just before he launched 
himself into the air and disappeared into the woods. The post the hawk is 
perched on is 3 1/2 inches across, so you can see that this is a very small 
Cooper's Hawk, probably a male.

Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt

      

JPEG image

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