I've seen all kinds of birds scolding and chasing the merlins, and now that more chimney swifts are starting to come in, it's pretty easy to follow where they're flying by the swarm of swifts after them. But I've seen robins, jays, grackles, starlings, and what I'm pretty sure was a blue-gray gnatcatcher perching near them just to screech at them. What's funny is the variety of birds that will just sit there and NOT scold them. I've seen an oriole, goldfinches, sparrows, the same grackles, starlings and jays, and probably more birds I'm forgetting, all sitting around and seeming to just chill out together. Guess it just depends on whether they're hungry or not at the moment. lol
--- On Sun, 7/11/10, Margaret Bowman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Margaret Bowman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Saturday July 10
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 8:18 PM
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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______________________________________________________________________
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Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
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______________________________________________________________________
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Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
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