Hello James,


Great shots! Can not see the prey clearly, but appears to be a Rock Dove. The accipiter appears to be a 2-3 year old male Cooper's hawk (blue-grey dorsal feathers and orange eyes). Nice close-ups of a great bird.


Thanks,
Dan Reiff

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Rufo Hill" <rufo.hill at gmail.com>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2012 10:23:44 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Accipiter v. Columba (with arguments from Corvus)

The recently settled Crows noisily tipped me to something interesting in the backyard this weekend. When I made my way out of the house I noticed that they weren't mobbing a raptor high in a tree; rather they were much lower to the ground, protesting something in the alley. I figured it was simply a cat or someone wearing a Dick Cheney mask, but then as I peeked over the fence I saw soft coverts flying...I ran to grab my camera and not-so-big-honkin' lens, opened the door to the alley and saw this:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdrh/sets/72157629312974492/



I got close enough before letting the Accip dine in peace. (The Crows had moved on.) Is it a Coop or Sharpie? And Rock Dove, not Band-Tailed Pigeon, yes?


Here's to thankfully noisy Crows,
James
Maple Leaf, Seattle
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