A week or two ago someone mentioned on this list server seeing a
Cooper's Hawk with a nest near the Indianola Bridge in Glen Echo Ravine
in Columbus. I walk that way several times a week (weather permitting)
at lunch time, and while I've seen a hawk there, I've been unable to
spot the nest. Of course, I never carry binoculars with me on my lunch
hour because I'm already eating and walking.

 

Today as I was about 100 yards east of the bridge I heard an alarm call
from a Cooper's so I stopped to try and spot it. I even tried a little
lip squeaking to see if I could get it out into the open. Eventually I
spotted it, sitting on a high branch looking down on me. I pointed the
bird out to a passing dog-walker, who enjoyed seeing it. I stood there
for a while thinking maybe it would fly off and lead me to the nest.
After a few minutes, it flew - but headed over the apartment buildings
to the north and I lost sight of it. I started walking again, then
quickly I saw two hawks coming back my way through the trees. The second
hawk was smaller (and I'm making a wild guess it was the male and the
same one I heard giving the alarm call). It appeared to be chasing the
other, larger hawk (presumably a female - and perhaps an immature,
though without binoculars just knowing it was a Cooper's was all I could
confirm). At one point, as they broke from the cover of the trees into
the open air above the walkway, the chasing hawk swooped down and
appeared to hit the front hawk. Very quickly after that, the "chased"
hawk continued on its way upstream and away from the nesting area, while
the smaller, chasing hawk circled back into the trees and disappeared.
My conclusion - totally speculation - is that the second hawk was an
immature female (hence larger) that had wandered into the nesting pair's
territory and this stimulated the alarm call and everything else I
observed.

 

I may be wrong about my conclusions - but it was a neat observation just
the same.

 

Bob

 

 ====================

Robert C. Glotzhober                              614/ 298-2054

Senior Curator, Natural History                
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Ohio Historical Society                           Fax: 614/ 297-2546

1982 Velma Avenue

Columbus, Ohio 43211-2497

Visit the website of the Ohio Historical Society at:  
www.ohiohistory.org <http://www.ohiohistory.org>  and check out our
online collections catalog. 

Visit the Ohio Odonata website at:  
http://www.marietta.edu/~odonata/index.html
<http://www.marietta.edu/~odonata/index.html> 

 
Celebrating 125 Years of serving Ohioans.

 


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