>
>I have had several visits by a sharpie over the past few years. The season
>is spring through early winter. .
>
>When sharpies are on the prowl do they hang out near promising locations
>or do they cruise around looking for targets of opportunity? I'm just
>getting into birding and might be classed as a lurker.
>

>Douglas G. Hudson
>dhudson at linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us

Douglas

I don't know whether anyone replied individually to you or not, but since I
have not seen a reply to your post, I'll share my experiences. First, most
of my sightings of Sharpies have been as they are cruising. Flying past or
over feeders seems to be a common habit of both the smaller accipiters.
They are just watching for the unwary bird. Once at the neighborhood
school, I was watching a R-C Kinglet fluttering around, there was a sudden
commotion and the kinglet was gone. It took a couple of seconds to realize
a sharpie had just found its lunch.

At our house in the Willamette Valley, Sharp-shinned Hawks are much more
common from fall to spring, with most of my sightings coming in mid-winter.
I have had them perching in trees that overlook my feeders, and in trees
that run along a small creek that borders our property. I have seen them
make a pass at a feeder and not finding any bird sufficiently unwary,
withdraw to a perch far enough away to let everything calm down, then make
another pass.

I have had them perched on dead branches out in the open, but I understand
that they most commonly lurk inside the treeline in-between hunts or as
they watch the open areas from the inside.

Good birding, Tim

Tim Shelmerdine
Lake Oswego/Aurora, Oregon
shelmert at mail.clackesd.k12.or.us