Hello Birders,
Again today my wife and I heard a very loud thump against the glass dining
room door. Upon inspection I found a male Northern Cardinal lying on the
steps gasping his last breath. Since all of the other birds were gone I knew
the resident immature Sharp-shinned may have been responsible. I left the
Cardinal where it was. Within a minute or so the hawk was back in the yard
eyeing the dead Cardinal. He made a couple of passes by the steps then
landed on the stone flowerbed border a few feet away. He sat there for a few
seconds, then he went to the cherry tree. Finally he got up enough nerve to
come for the bird. He landed on the steps within 4 feet of me. He couldn't
see me because of the reflection in the glass of the door.
Within a couple of seconds he had the Cardinal. He then flew across the yard
and dropped to the ground near the edge of the woods where he stayed for the
next 20 minutes, while he enjoyed his meal.This is his 5th. Cardinal in 6
days. I took a few video snapshots of him. If you would like to take a look
go to http://www.bcplnet.org/birdclub/gallery/SharpCard.htm He looks larger
in the photos because the base of the shrubs behind him look like trees.
Roger Mayhorn
Grundy, VA
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
