As a falconer who has had more than a few Cooper's in the hand, I can say
that even a hen Cooper's cannot take on a Gray Squirrel. The Cooper's just
lacks the necessary bone crushing grip that the Red-tailed Hawk, and GHO
have. I have seen a Cooper's take on and win a fight with the Douglas
Squirrel; but only once.

Clarence
Cinebar, WA.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Lewis" <larryalewis at hotmail.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 8:30 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] RE: Cooper's v Squirrel


> Hi, Tweets,
>
> Not a bird, but when my family moved to Seattle (1970) our big (19#)
> tomcat busily set about beating up every dog and cat in a two-block
> radius, while dispatching every bird and critter he could along the way.
> 'Coons? Crows? Rottweilers? Bring 'em on... except... A squirrel lived in
> our apple tree out back and Mom would keep Tex in until the fuzzball was
> safely out of reach. One day one of the Lewis brothers absently let the
> cat out without checking for rodent traffic.
> The squirrel was right in the middle of the yard. Tex made a single,
> berserker leap off the porch and landed squarely on top of the squirrel.
> After a stunned pause of about one second the squirrel reached up and bit
> Tex on the nose. Tex made a standing high jump of around four feet, giving
> the squirrel time to zip up the tree and chatter indignantly at its
> erstwhile diner...
> It's always reminded me of that old poster image showing the huge hawk
> stooping in on a mouse, all talons and beak, and the mouse standing there
> raising the one-finger salute, entitled "The Final Act Of Defiance". ;)
> So, yes, my money'd be on the nominal prey animal in the Cooper's fight,
> too.
>
> Larry Lewis
> Shoreline, WA
> larryalewis at hotmail.com
>
>
>>Message: 1
>>Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:08:32 +0000
>>From: johntubbs at comcast.net
>>Subject: [Tweeters] COOPER'S HAWK vs. Eastern Gray Squirrel - Image of
>> the Lead Character
>>To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
>>Message-ID:
>> <102420072008.20366.471FA6400007A58200004F8E22155754749C0D0D9A9B02080106 at comcast.net>
>>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>
>>Hi All,
>>
>>Judging by the off-list responses I got, the little learning-to-hunt saga
>>playing itself outside my office was of interest to a number of folks.
>>So, I thought some of you might want to see an image of the main character
>>in this little drama...!
>>
>>http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?photoID=4951573&cat=38975
>>
>>
>>John Tubbs
>>Snoqualmie, WA
>>johntubbs at comcast.net
>>www.tubbsphoto.com
>>-------------- next part --------------
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Caf?. Stop
> by today!
> http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_OctHMtagline
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> Tweeters at u.washington.edu
> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters