Tag: Cooper’s Hawk

On the Watch

A Juvenile Sharp-Shinned Hawk

During the height of the pandemic, I found myself indulging in bird photography more than ever.

During that time I had an unexpected close encounter with this beautiful juvenile sharp-shinned hawk perched atop a tree located on the Dungeness levee trail, prior to the river rerouting.

As I kept my focus on her, she scanned back and forth over the field below her, as I held my breath and somehow, she failed to see or hear me approach.

And though it wasn’t pleasant to witness the end results of her hunting behavior, watching the process was truly incredible, and within minutes I was doing just that.

Sensing movement in the field below her, her eyes immediately locked on a target as if guided by radar, then instantly, she took off, swept down, flipped her prey in the air, and landed her meal of the day…all within seconds.

And I congratulated her; I’m sure she’ll be feeding her young the same way someday.

Coming to a Bird Feeder Near You

Yes, this beautiful but also stern and rather solemn face can mean only one thing…”I’m on your fence and watching your feeder!”.

Although stunning, these hawks mean business and the more passerines you have munching on your bird seed, the more they’ll be attracted to your feeder, and more specifically to your birds.

But there’s hope. All About Birds says, “If a Cooper’s Hawk takes up residence in your yard, you can take your feeders down for a few days and the hawk will move on.”

And although they can be menacing, they do have some redeeming characteristics, as the site also states, “Males tend to be submissive to females and to listen out for reassuring call notes the females make when they’re willing to be approached. Males build the nest, then provide nearly all the food to females and young over the next 90 days before the young fledge.”

So, apparently, there’s some good in every inhabitant of the planet. We may just need to look a bit harder to find it…