Subject: [Tweeters] Jays vs Cooper
Date: Sep 5 11:00:22 2015
From: James P. Beneteau - beneteau at wavecable.com


I guess this would have to be a "feather weight" fight classification
but we were treated to a battle between 6 or 7 Stellar Jays and a
(young, I think) Cooper Hawk in our yard this Saturday morning. Went
on for about a half hour.
The Cooper would land on the tree, the feeder pole, the weather vane,
one of the trees, or even the back fence. Shortly, a Jay would either
fly right past him or even land within about 16 inches then peck at
him. The Cooper would sometimes just fly to another spot but usually
gave chase for a circle of the yard then land again. Meanwhile, the
Jays took turns eating at the feeders while other taunted the hawk.
Very little squawking from the Jays (though Cooper vented his
frustration a few times).
It was interesting when a poor dove wandered into the field of battle
for a minute or so. (Ok, it was an Eurasian, but still....) All the
other little tweeties were definitely keeping their heads down.
(Rabbit wasn't sure about this and squirrel didn't care at all.)

Jim Beneteau
Arlington, Wa