Subject: [Tweeters] A juv coopers vs an adult Steller's Jay
Date: Sep 3 12:48:50 2012
From: Rob Sandelin - nwnature1 at gmail.com
For the past several days a first year coopers hawk has been hanging around.
Yesterday my mid afternoon nap was interrupted by the loud ruckus of a
Steller's Jay. I blearily opened one eye and there is was, almost directly
overhead yelling its head off. I was about to yell at it to sbut up when I
saw the object of its wrath, the local Coopers hawk of late. After a minute
or so more of verbal abuse the hawk flew out from its cedar branch perch,
climbed up over the roof the house next door and appeared to be heading out
of town. The Jay sallied out into the open space, and the hawk changed
direction on a dime, and was now above and dropping towards the jay. The
Jay made a single loud squawk, clearly saying oh Sh*t! and dropped down
heading for a clump of shrubbery. The hawk was pumping wings full on in kill
mode, talons out and open and it was a race. The jay literally dove into
the brush maybe one second ahead of the hawk who pulled up at the last
instant and made a neat landing on a alder branch which offered a full view
of the jays hiding place. After a few minutes of no action I moved to the
back deck which offered a better view and grabbed some bins on the way.
After a few minutes searching I located the jay in the dense shrub thicket.
The hawk flew off to the south a minute or so later but the jay stayed under
cover for another 10 minutes before finally emerging near the ground and
slinking away. There was something very satisfying seeing the usually brash
and loud Jay so humbled.
Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Check out my <http://share2.esd105.org/rsandelin/NWnature/NWNature.htm>
website