I worked at the Goshutes a couple years ago, banding migrating raptors w/
HawkWatch Int'l. On several occasions I had Sharpies (even little male
Sharpies) come in and try to take the Rock Dove that we had out in
front. It was always a funny sight watching these little guys going after
a bird that was so much larger than them! We never actually trapped one
using a dove - usually as soon as they saw the House Sparrows and Starlings
they'd go after the smaller birds.

Nicole Michel
Vancouver, WA

At 05:36 AM 3/20/03 +0000, you wrote:
>Tweeters,
>Below is a recent description of a backyard scene. Could a Sharpie really
>take a
>Rock Dove?
>
>3/6/03, Thursday
>At 10:15 this morning I caught a little video of a Sharpie in our backyard
>just
>after it caught a House Sparrow in the camellia. I saw the bird streak in
>from
>the west and I think it tried for some birds on the new suet feeder, then
>succeeded in the camellia where they all dove, fleeing, and in hot
>pursuit. The
>hawk wheeled out of the bush on those deep wings and settled in the grass
>by the
>squirrel box. The squirrel eating there raised up on its hind legs and froze
>until the hawk left a couple minutes later. My initial tape didn?t take, but
>after re-settling the camera on the tripod, I got some good footage that even
>shows the last feeble struggles of the caught prey and the mesmerized
>squirrel.
>Then

>
>Subject: hawk
>Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 12:52:37 -0800
>From: pslott <pslott at attbi.com>
>To: Alan Lincoln <alincoln at teltone.com>
>
>Wow! That Sharpie was sitting on the birdbath when I came back from
>lunch. It watched a squirrel come in and get into the peanut box. Then
>two unaware Chestnut-backed Chickies wandered into the camellia and the mock
>orange above it. I stood up and moved fast to the window flailing my arms to
>alert the
>little guys and they must've realized their danger because they immediately
>disappeared. The squirrel ran back and forth under the tail of the
>hawk to bury peanuts from the feeder, apparently still unaware. Each
>time, the
>hawk rose up tall on its legs, looking very
>annoyed, and I wondered if he would attack an animal so much larger and
>heavier. While this was going on, a hapless Rock Dove was pecking
>around under the Jay feeder. Sure enough, the agitated hawk rose up and
>went after the dove toward the west. The last I saw them, the dove had
>circled around and was running/flying on the ground eastward through the
>yard with the hawk just a couple feet behind and above in pursuit!
>
>Whoa! Glad it didn't get the Cb's.
>
>
>--
>Patricia Lott
>Seattle, WA
>VariedThrush at attbi.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nicole Michel
MAPS Biologist and MAPSPROG Programmer
nmichel at birdpop.org
360-326-3583

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