Scott,
I love your writing.
Jackie
On Feb 6, 2017, at 10:43 AM, Marsh, Scott
<smarsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:smarsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I have seen the adult female Cooper’s Hawk in the neighborhood. She had, to
this point, shown no interest in the chickens of which I was aware. Late Sunday
afternoon pregame food prep in the kitchen also included eyeballing the
chickens in the backyard from time to time. A glance up from stirring my Cajun
style vegetable beef soup, topped off with my home smoked chili powders,
caught motion in the yard. I immediately recognized the situation and bolted.
The first view from outside the house was a RIR (rhode island red) getting
struck next to the miscanthus clump. This startled an EE (easter egger) from
her hiding place and the hawk switched interest to the smaller hen. The hawk
made contact with her before she could make the fir tree only 6 feet away, but
she slid under the branches which hanf the ground. The hawk tilted and slid
gracefully into the tree. A brief flash or two of movement and out they came,
the hen heading for the coop, the hawk in hot pursuit. The whole time, be it
brief, I was yelling very loud and running as fast as I could (that isn’t very
fast). When the hawk hit her again I was two strides back. I gave a leap, the
hawk gave up, an it was over. Feathers were still in the air when my neighbor
made an appearance, mostly concerned it was his dog that was the culprit. I
found that the initial hit (on an RIR) I had missed. Apparently the thick
feathering on a chicken is tough to penetrate; there was no blood, everyone
seemed okay. I was a little winded. It was several minutes before all were
accounted for, they have a great ability to hide with little cover.
The hawk was very impressive maneuvering about the yard. I have no idea how it
can create such speed with so little effort. I am fairly certain she was
unaware of my presence until the very end. No I didn’t get very close to
catching her. You have seen baseball slide come up short, something like that.
Scott Marsh
Lexington
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