[Bristol-Birds] territorial Cooper's hawks in my yard daily
- From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "TN-birds" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 19:57:21 -0400
A pair of Cooper's Hawks appear to be nesting in my yard here in
south Bristol, Sullivan Co. I have not been able to find the nest but
I have been watching for clues for nearly two weeks.
Almost every time I am in my yard I hear a soft almost squirrel-like
chirps or call. Several times I have followed it until I could get my
binoculars on the source and, each time, I see a Cooper's Hawk.
This afternoon, for the first time, there are two birds. Until today
it has always been just one bird seen or known to be heard.
Those of you that know me can picture this habitat but, for those
of you who can't, I live in a very urban neighborhood. My house
is on almost two acres of ridge/knob hillside with a north facing
slope. We are surrounded by tall, mature, oaks. There are other
species. A long row of nearly 80+ft high white pines grow along
a steep driveway. I guess there are a hundred trees on this
hillside. Neighbors live at least 200 to 300 feet away
in any direction.
Today the birds became very active. The hawks would dart from
tree to tree and flash thru the woods, pitching up to an almost
vertical climb of maybe 30 to 40 feet. A second bird would rush
towards it. They once or twice landed on the same branch. Then
one appeared to dive towards the thick under story and the
second bird would give chase. They were not noisy. The chases
were frequent but did not appear very confrontational.
Chris O'Bryan was hear for most of the afternoon and we watched
for the birds during a three-hour period.
It is puzzling that one of the birds appears to be mostly brown and
seems to be a subadult. We are not sure if it is an intruder or
just gameful with the other. There was no substantial mating
behavior.
Once we saw one bird dash across the driveway as it sped thru
the trees and then began a very steep vertical climb out of sight
into the highest crown of a white pine over the driveway. I hurried
to see if a nest was in sight but the hawk quickly flew over almost the
same path dropping steeply out of the pine and returning the
direction it came. Had it delivered food to a nest and then quickly
departed ? They have little concern about human presence.
A few days ago I played a recording of a Cooper's Hawk
cackling. I only knew one bird was present. It immediately left
its perch where I had been watching. It flew over my house and
out above the tree crowns. Then it circled several times over the
area. It drew no attention from other birds in the vicinity. We
have a number of crows here but they have never been heard to
pay any attention to the Cooper's.
Earlier today about 2:30 p.m., a couple of Blue Jays were making
a fairly decent racket. I had an outside door open so I just walked
to the doorway and stood just inside. All became quiet and I
never saw one of the jays or the hawk.
We wonder if the soft call sound we are hearing might be young
food begging.
Cooper's Hawk lay eggs in April and should have large young in
the nest at this time. That is what we have found at nests where
we have known eggs and later banded young.
I have one fair nest of some kind which has been in a low tree
along my driveway for two years. I think it was a sorry attempt
by a crow or squirrel to use it for whatever. It shows none of
the classic signs of an active diurnal raptor nest. No birds have
been seen near it.
Chris is coming back tomorrow so maybe we can get something
more final if the weather is not too nasty.
Let's go birding.......
Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN
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