Two years ago I saw a bird standing on my bird feeder, obviously hunting for a
meal, but it wasn't a hawk. It was a Green Heron. It came two days in a row.
Every time a small bird would come toward the feeder it would crouch into a
strike posture. There is no question it was hunting birds. The small birds
certainly recognized the danger. They wouldn't come near enough for the heron
to strike. The only birds which successfully fed while the heron was there were
a couple of Black-capped Chickadees, which surreptitiously sneaked in behind
it, grabbed a seed and fled.
Darrel
From: "Steve Jaggers" <sjaggers280@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "OBOLINKS" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2019 2:39:31 PM
Subject: [obol] Cooper's Hawk thread
Its not unusual to have accipiters visit bird feeders but this thread reminded
me of our experience with a Coop that chased a few birds under an on the ground
seed feeder and then stood on its roof hoping that the birds hidden beneath it
would flush.
This went on for several minutes with the Coop doing a 360 scan until finally
the prey escaped from behind him.
Phone photo thru window attached.
Steve Jaggers
Linda Neumann
south of Milwaukie
