I too had a Cooper's being pursued - today. The pursuers were barn
swallows! For a while, the Cooper's hawks were making themselves scarce
around here. Now I've seen three in two days. I think the juveniles are
"on the prowl", and anything can happen! I've seen some pretty amusing
Cooper's run-ins (like the one that followed a squawking fully grown chicken
all the way to the hen house), and of course some not so amusing.
Margaret
Licking Co., OH
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Whan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 9:16 AM
Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Saturday July 10
> Paul's amusing observation could probably be duplicated every day
> if
> everyone were paying attention as well as he...well, maybe not the
> hummingbird part. The other day a soaking-wet young female Cooper's was
> perched on a wire behind my house, and I counted 23 smaller
> birds--sparrows, finches, even a couple of rock pigeons--perched at
> distances as close as fifteen feet on wires, all excitedly vocalizing or
> at least looking on as if jeering. Must have been humiliating for the
> young hawk.
> Cooper's hawks are often the most often observed raptor in many
> towns
> and cities these days, but were not always part of the urban scene. A
> hundred years ago they, and red-tailed hawks, were rural birds, called
> "chicken-hawks" because of their predations on farm poultry. Wildlife
> officials passed out free boxes of shotgun shells in huge numbers in
> hopes of eradicating them and other predators.
> They and other rural birds (some red-tailed and red-shouldered
> hawks,
> even crows) have moved closer to and into cities over recent decades,
> fleeing (or maybe just surviving from) such persecutions, and benefiting
> from ordinances forbidding shooting and perhaps warmer urban winter
> temperatures, not to mention feeders. I wish Cooper's hawks would
> specialize on house sparrows, but house sparrow flocks are quick and
> markedly skittish, and it is usually native birds that suffer from
> attacks on feeders. Cooper's do relish, and often catch, rock pigeons,
> whose plucked skeletons I regularly uncover when I rake leaves.
> P. S. See some posts under the rubric "Silent Spring" on BirdChat over
> the last few days for a novel look at the Gulf oil spill:
> http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CHAT.html
> Bill Whan
> Columbus
>
> Paul Graham wrote:
>> Saw something interesting Saturday afternoon: I heard a bunch of Blue
>> Jays raising a ruckus -- I figured it was a cat that's been hanging out
>> so I
>> went out back to scare it off. Pretty soon I saw a small group of jays
>> (maybe 5) chasing a Cooper's Hawk across my yard into the neighbor's
>> yard. I
>> stayed out there because the ruckus wasn't quieting any; it was actually
>> getting louder and wilder -- so I waited to see what was going on.
>> After a
>> couple minutes the Cooper's came rocketing out of the trees about 15
>> feet
>> off the ground with the jays in pursuit but quickly being left behind.
>> It
>> was all pretty close to me and it didn't look like the hawk was carrying
>> anything. Then I noticed that right on the Cooper's flank --
>> literally -- was
>> a hummingbird. The scene, though happening fast, was very clear. It
>> looked like a little fighter plane right on the tail of a bomber!
>> Thought
>> this list would get a kick out that visual. I don't expect I'll ever
>> get to
>> see something like that again.
>>
>> Paul Graham
>> Worthington
>> Franklin Co.
>
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