About three weeks ago as I was taking a just-after-dawn walk in Genesee
Park I watched as a juvenile Sharpie made a number of unsuccessful
attempts to take down one of a fairly large flock of foraging crows. In
each attempt the young Sharpie was run off by a mob of the intended
meal's companions. After 4 or 5 tries a second adult Sharpie joined the
fray, zooming into sight from behind me to assist the youngster. Still,
both birds were stimied by the massed flock of crows.

Today I watched the whole scene play out again at Pritchard Beach - a
young Sharpie, a flock of crows, an adult Sharpie. The young bird
making numerous vain attempts to single out and catch a crow, the crows
responding in a mob, the adult pitching in to help, both hawks giving
up to perch in a nearby tree. The oddest thing today was that the tree
the hawks perched in was filled with little birds, chickadees and
kinglets, none of which seemed to be at all alarmed at their close
proximity to the hawks - and the hawks, who seemed to be completely
uninterested in a fair smorgasbord of likely prey cavorting at their
feet.

Also at Pritchard Beach today: Double-Crested Cormorants, Pied-bill
grebes, one Townsend's Warbler, one Bald Eagle, a huge flock of Cedar
Waxwings, another of Robins, another of Canada Geese, both Kinglets,
Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees and a single Song Sparrow.