>>>"I had an immature Sharpy in my backyard on Tuesday afternoon which flew
through my laurel hedge in a pursuit of house sparrows."<<<

In 1987, when we were living on Mercer Island, I was standing next to a very
dense ~holly~ tree in our back yard. A Sharpy crashed through that holly,
sounding like an exploding chain saw, and emerged with a Robin, pieces of holly
flying everywhere. He sat on the ground with the Robin, looked at me, and then
flew over the fence with it (a real struggle). I expected to see a bloody hawk
after ripping through all those thorny holly leaves, but he seemed only a little
dazed for a moment, maybe sore but not too badly hurt.

I guess that, when a Sharpy sees prey, he doesn't think much about what gets in
the way.

Jerry


E-mail from: Jerry Blinn, 01-Mar-1997