Last week there was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk that had been evidently attacked and ended up in my Quince Bush in my front yard. Since there were a number of House Sparrows, I thought it was kind of welcome, as the sparrows did a rapid disappearing act! The hawk screamed loudly for about five minutes, or so it seemed. It was long enough for me to find my shoes and put them on, then go out and investigate. Okay, so I thought that was the end of it. However, yesterday a mature Cooper's Hawk landed on the Laurels and all the birds at the feeders did a very, very rapid disappearing act! I have not seen this hawk again, and it was unsuccessful in any snacks here, as the feeders are well guarded by trees on three sides and overhead with fir branches. All the little guys had adequate escape routes. In the two years that I have had feeders here, there have never been any hawks here before that I have seen. The feeders have never showed any signs of not being need to be refilled normally, either. Since I just bought two more thistle feeders for the rapidly increasing number of Pine Siskins, it would be most upsetting if these little guys are deprived of the feeders because of a hawk problem here at my feeders!

However, I am thinking that this might be an example of being careful of what you ask for. The House Sparrows have become such a problem that I was wishing for anything possible to eliminate these pests taking over all my feeders. If these hawks are an answer to my wishes for the House Sparrows to be eliminated from my yard, well....

I would appreciate anyone in the area letting me know if they are having the same problems with Cooper's Hawks, or anyone else who knows if this might be just a temporary migratory problem. Maybe the House Sparrows aren't so bad after all.

J.V.Bonham
Centralia, WA
jvbonham at msn.com<mailto:jvbonham at msn.com>
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