Subject: [Tweeters] More Accipiter Hunting Drama - SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA)
Date: Oct 31 16:03:03 2007
From: johntubbs at comcast.net - johntubbs at comcast.net


Hi All,

For those of you who followed the saga of "Junior" - hey, what's wrong with a little anthropomorphizing on occasion : -) - the immature COOPER'S HAWK (COHA) who kept trying to capture an Eastern Gray Squirrel...here is an update.

I came back to the office Monday and things were very quiet around the feeders outside all morning. So, I assumed Junior had kept up his frequent, though almost always futile, hunting forays and the birds were laying low or worse might have skipped town for calmer pastures. However, no Junior was seen at all yet this week, whereas his presence was quite obvious all of last week. By yesterday and today, the feeders were bustling with activity again and the birds appeared to be relaxed. Did Junior tangle with one of the squirrels and lose? Did his hunting ineptness result in his demise from a lack of food? Did he migrate further south? Did he get chased out of somebody else's territory after he was discovered? It sure would be interesting to know, but of course it's unknowable unless he shows up again or I find some physical evidence of his downfall.

So, about a half hour ago out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird "explosion" away from the feeders with all the regulars hightailing it for the nearest cover. I also caught a very short glimpse of an accipiter spp. rocketing over the feeders and into the woods without slowing down. Hmmmm...if that was Junior, his flying prowess increased exponentially over the weekend. After the ensuing, predictable and interesting 'everybody's gone' period was over and the birds started being active again, I glanced outside in time to see said accipiter at full throttle rocketing out of the woods only a few feet off the ground, effortlessly dodging around shrubs - and coming literally right at me no more than a couple of inches behind a Dark-eyed Junco that was clearly in dire straits. The Junco bonked the window a foot from my head and I expected the accipiter - now an obvious adult SSHA (not Junior or another COHA this time) to permanently end its hunting career on the window as wel!
l. The
SSHA, however, put on an apparently instantaneous full-flap midair stall inches away from the window and grabbed the Junco either in the air as it was falling or simultaneously when it hit the ground. In one continuous motion, the SSHA reversed direction and rocketed back into the woods about a foot off the ground, talons grasping its meal. I grabbed my camera to see if I could get some plucking/eating pictures.

However, this SSHA not only was an order of magnitude better flyer and hunter than Junior, but also knew how to find a private plucking perch because I searched the woods for a few minutes without success. The up close and personal comparison of this SSHA adult's competence at flight and the hunt was amazing compared to the bumbling Junior last week. As I mentioned then, Junior had managed to get a couple birds that also hit the building when he flew into their midst, but he would sit for a few seconds looking in wonderment at his "prey" before grabbing it as if to say, "Well, golly gee, I think I GOT one!" before leisurely flying off and plucking his bird from a perch where I could see him.

As I'm writing this, I'm just amazed at how fortunate I've been to witness these two incidents while working (OK, admittedly probably working less efficiently than I should be given the outside entertainment!). The very few seconds it took today's successful hunt to transpire will be on a vivid, and hopefully permanent mental video loop every time I think about accipiters hunting, I suspect.

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com