I watched an accipiter (no optics but jizz says Cooper's) attack a flock of
30 or so European Starlings that were feeding on some windfall apples near
the Coupeville Elementary School (Whidbey Island). It caught one and took it
to a nearby tree and started plucking it's victim. Just then a small flock
of 6 or 7 starlings flew into the area. The hawk dropped it's prey and took
after the starlings but missed. It then came back to it's "plucking branch"
and stared down at the dead starling that had fallen to the ground. It
perched there for a couple of minutes and then flew off. I checked back 3
hours later and the starling was gone.
Why would it abandon it's food to go after another bird? Isn't a starling
in the talon worth 2 in a bush? I also know Cooper's Hawks recognize bodies
as food because we had one that fed on a dead rabbit in our yard for 3 days
during a cold snap a few years ago.
Steve Ellis Coupeville Wa.
sellis at coup.wenet.edu