Today in the back forty a Downy woodpecker was working on some rotten Alders
when a Coopers hawk came flashing up out of nowhere. The hawk went for the
woodpecker, talons out and the Downy dodged the first pass and slide around
to the side I was on which was opposite the direction the hawk had gone. To
my surprise the woodpecker disappeared and I thought maybe the hawk had hit
it and it had dropped to the ground. The hawk perched not far away without
anything in its talons so I wondered where the Downy went. So did the hawk
who continually scanned the area of the tree where the bird had been. The
hawk suddenly turned its head another direction and took off after somebody
else I guess. I turned back from watching the hawk fly away and there was
the woodpecker on the very tree it had been before! Magic? The woodpecker
looked all around then flew away. I was curious so I went and got my bins
and then climbed up a nearby tree to get a better look. Directly under a
branch was a large crack in the tree. My best guess was the woodpecker
ducked in there and hid. I couldn't think of any other way the bird could
disappear so quickly. Thinking about it later, it seemed a risky strategy
because if the hawk saw the bird go in all it had to do was wait out the
woodpecker, or maybe it could have fished it out with an extended talon. But
maybe the attention span of a hungry hawk is short enough to make it worth
the chance, or maybe hawks aren't savvy enough to put together a missing
prey and a hiding place. It still has me filled with questions. If this
happened like I think it did, are hiding places just matters of chance or do
woodpeckers keep in range of such things. This hawk, or perhaps a couple,
have been hunting regularly in these woods recently. Does such recurring
encounters with hawks raise a woodpeckers awareness of escape routes? Does
regular hunting in the same area create hyper alert prey birds, thus hawks
have less success and move to other locales where they can surprise new
birds easier? So many questions, so few answers. Aint nature grand?

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County