Got one of these lurking and waiting for unwary feasts. The starlings have cleared out lately. Too bad. pl
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had a hawk crash into my glass sliding door two weeks ago. Sounded like someone threw a rock at the window. Going after a starling, I believe. It was down for about 15 minutes. Then, suddenly, it got to its legs. And suddenly flew away, apparently fine. It was beautiful.
jonst
I saw this guy again tonight while grilling. It came and sat on the fence near me to see what I was doing.
I have them nesting both on and around my farm. Some of the males will even come up to me (at a distance) and try to carry on a conversation with me. If I was only a beast-master and could speak hawk. But I’ll try and reply to them in my pigeon speak while they converse in their hawkish way. Sitting on the porch sipping a long island tea and conversing with nature, nothing like it.
I also have bluejays, red cardinals, starlings, scissor tails, doves, big owls, ravens, crows, trying to think of what else….no matter. What is really neat in my book is when a raven comes up to me, and tries to converse. They are an interesting creature. My late father-in-law had a large raven as his friend, the raven would light on his arm and they would have a fine conversation between them. Was the darnedest thing to watch.
Ah yes, I remembered, large wild turkeys, woodpeckers, and large turkey vultures high above scanning the heavens.
Have a good weekend all.
Col, don’t ya love that. I got a picture of the hawk that hit my window. I did not know how to posted it to the Committee. But I will send it to you. On that note, no matter what you decide re SST, my very best to you sir! I salute you, and the service you have done, after the service you did.
They silently glide low over the house, from time to time, glinting sun, a momentary, dark shadow sweeping the yard, headed for the nearby bank of trees. Once I did see a coopers dive down into the foliage of the canopy. The cooper’s hawks, or its cousins, are probably why the local cardinal pair visit the birdfeeder only when dusk is halfway to dark.
As a teen in PA we had one crash into our car while it was chasing a starling. I could see what it was clearly, so convinced my mom to stop and go back. The starling was stone dead, but I was not sure about the hawk so we took it home in a bucket. It recovered, and being pre-internet, I biked down to the library for a book on falconry. Long story short, for a few weeks I was flying a coopers in my backyard like a crown prince until one afternoon it had enough and flew off. I had learned to bait starlings into the yard with popcorn, and then let the hawk ambush them from the kitchen window. He/she got one almost every time.
Bill—that is amazing.
All—there is some talk that Cooper’s hawks will match their wing beats to say pigeons when hunting near pigeons—I saw one glide in very low like a crow over the pavement, back-lit, right up to a group of crows on the road—it glided in looking just like a crow, then “took of its disguise” at the last minute and pulled up as the young crows all scattered like Penelope’s suitors; Odysseus sitting there laughing on a branch.
We have a generational family of Cooper’s hawks in the woods behind our pasture. It’s the females that seem to return to nest and attack mates. This has been reoccurring for at least ten years. They love it when we mow the pastures. Doing that stirs up rodents and the hawks eat well. We see them daily in the summer wheeling on the breeze and crying out above us. Lifts the heart and spirit.
We also have generational kestrels (small falcons) in the oak tree out front and in a hole in the eaves. In 2012 we did some renovation and the eaves got replaced. Three fledgling kestrels got sealed into the attic. We discovered them and brought them down. Put them in a cage and fed them raw hamburger and chicken for a month/month and half. The we switched to mice (from the pet store and stunned by a blow to the head). When the babies proved they could kill and eat the mice and could fly around the house, we opted to release them. The whole time they had been in communication through the open window/screen with their mother who had moved to the oak tree. When we opened the second story screen, they flapped and struggled, but soon enough were flying more or less straight. By night fall they had reunited with their mother in the oak tree. Subsequent years saw them returning to nest in a hole in the oak tree, but also pecking a new opening in eaves. We let them have that. They return like clockwork every Spring.
One time I let one of Kestrel land on my wrist without a leather glove on. Big mistake. Even those little raptors have razor sharp talons and a surprisingly strong grip. SWMBO got it off me by offering some meat on her gloved hand/wrist. It happily switched to SWMBO.
There is a Cooper Hawk that patrols our farm in SC. We have several martin house for insect control. The purple martins will not tolerate the hawk too close to their houses & will chase the hawk away. The hawk still has plenty of acres of pasture, hay fields & woods to hunt. The hay field are full of woods rats so I’m sure that the hawk is never hungry.
Interestingly the blue birds have found that they can safely live beneath the martins’ “combat air patrol.
Yesterday in a break between meetings from home I stepped outside, heard a big coccus from the oak tree and a squirrel fell/ran down the trunk hiding in the Y of the tree and a big hawk (not sure about species , brown with some gray) crashed out of the tree in pursuit.
Oddly enough later that day I saw two squirrels doing the dirty on the trunk of that very same oak tree!
We have vultures and red tail hawks but 3 weeks ago we had a black bear ar the bird feeder. He ate the seed and suet but hasn’t been back. I’m loving the nature and food on your posts.