I was out in my backyard this sunny afternoon trying to get a picture
of a yellow-rumped warbler I seen earlier in the day. The warbler was
a no-show, but while I was waiting, out of the corner of my eye, I saw
something fall from the maple tree at the other end of the back yard.

I went over to investigate thinking I knew what had happened and sure
enough a Cooper's hawk had one of the band-tailed pigeons on the
ground.

The hawk stayed around long enough for me to take some pictures. A few
of them are posted in the New Photos gallery on my web page...

http://troublebound.smugmug.com/Birds/New-Photos/

The gallery is sorted by date/time so the five pictures of the hawk
are in reverse order. He picked up the pigeon's body and flew out of
my view shortly afterward.

This Cooper's hawk has been visiting our yard regularly since last
September and this is the fourth band-tailed pigeon that I know of
he's caught in addition to numerous smaller birds.

The last time I got a census of the band-tailed pigeons in the area
was in February when 46 of them sat quietly in a tree for me to count.

Also saw my first rufous hummingbird of the year shortly after the
hawk's visit. It was a female gathering nesting material.

Craig Kerns
Lake Forest Park, WA
troublebound at gmail.com