With only a short amount of free time on Thursday (out of town on Friday),
I swung by Magnuson and visited Promontory Point, mostly to check on status
of some nests we know of. It appears all of the Anna's Hummingbirds have
now fledged their chicks. At two BC Chickadee nest holes, there were
multiple feedings taking place. But, it was the Cooper's Hawk family that
provided some real entertainment.

The Cooper's nest, recycled from last year, is high in a Madrona tree such
that it is not possible to see into the nest; you can only verify that the
adult is present by its tail sticking out the side. When I arrived, the
female was sitting quietly, with its tail visible. After a few minutes, I
heard some kekking from its mate. It took a while but when I found it, on a
rather low perch, it was working on some prey, already too torn up to
identify. About a minute later, a whoosh and the female came in, snatching
the prey and pushing the male off the perch. She started working on the
prey herself when, in another moment, the male returned and they copulated.
I was a little surprised at this as there has been evidence that their eggs
have hatched. Shortly, the female flew off to another, more distant branch
to continue working on the now shredded morsel. I was finally able to get
some images but at a distance and in the shadows. After another couple of
minutes, she took off, prey clutched, and flew to the nest. When I got back
in position to see her at the nest, she was actively feeding, although only
her backside could be seen above the nest. Although both the male and
female seemed to be consuming some of the meal, they also spent a lot of
time plucking and perhaps tenderizing the meat prior to serving it to the
chicks.

https://youtu.be/ZME-3lYEz3s

Scott Ramos
Seattle



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