However, in the last week, we have witnessed a real first. About a week ago, we spotted a bird of prey in our linden tree, which is very close to the feeders. Naturally, while this guy was around, everyone else was gone. I managed to get the following two shots with my 400mm lens. At first, we thought this might be a peregrine falcon. The bird is relatively small as local hawks and such go. It might be 14-16 inches from head to tip of tail. We have used whatbird.com to try to identify it, as well as our own bird books. Now we think it might be a broad-winged hawk. However, your suggestions as to other possibilities are welcomed.
The big surprise, though, occurred this morning, when my local nature photographer, Kathie, came to tell me what she had just seen. I was working in the shop and missed the action first hand. The usual array of birds were feeding, when Kathie saw a large bird, probably the same one above, swoop in and catch a male cardinal. It held it down until it died and then flew away with its prize. Kathie managed to get the following picture before it took off. She had to use digital zoom to get close, so the picture is pretty blurry, but you can clearly make out the hunter and its prey.
When we started feeding birds, we had no idea we would begin to create a natural food chain. In prior years, we have had wild turkeys and even deer at the feeders. So this has been a pretty interesting source of entertainment. On the other hand, I hope we don't continue to progress to other kinds of predators. We don't need wildcats or other such critters here, even though they might be fun to see.
2 comments:
Nice pictures! Too bad about the cardinal though :( It would have been better if it had caught a sparrow or starling. Hawks are very, very difficult to identify. You have to have them hold still forever while you look at all the different species in the books and then, unless they are a red tailed hawk, there is almost always some key body part hidden that would have helped with the identification. I'm leaning away from the Broad-winged hawk and more towards one of the Accipiters (Genus) - maybe a juvenile Cooper's or a juvenile Sharp-shinned hawk. Here is why - I think the tail is too long for a Buteo, which is what the Broad-winged is. Also, I think there are too many white bars on the tail for a Broad-winged hawk. I especially like the Sharp-shinned, but it might be too small. You will have to keep an eye out for it and see if you can see it in flight - that would at least help with the Accipiter vs. Buteo question - if you can get it to hover for a bit while you grab your bird books and computer that is! Good luck!
Dear Bill,
I've been recruited by your dear daughter to help, though it looks like Sandy has it all covered already--great answer, Sandy! The first two photos certainly depict an immature sharp-shinned hawk. They're great shots, and I can clearly see the head, eye and bill proportions that identify it as a "sharpie." The third photo seems to depict a different individual--more heavily barred and streaked below--that may well be an immature Cooper's hawk. The bill looks larger in proportion to the head than it does in the preceding two photos. The other thing making me lean toward Cooper's is its size relative to that of the cardinal. It looks pretty big for a sharp-shin, which would be closer in size to the cardinal. One complicating factor is that males of both Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks are up to 1/3 smaller than are females. So what we could be looking at is either a small male Cooper's, or a honkin' big female sharp-shinned. Too much information? Yeah, I figured. It is a bit complex.
Any time you put out a feeder, you attract the predators, as you've noticed, and a large concentration of songbirds brings both Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks to many suburban feeders in winter.
Just FYI, broad-winged hawks are much chunkier in shape; quite phlegmatic, prey on reptiles, amphibians, rodents and even insects, and do not attack birds; the two accipiters named above are the only hawks that commonly hunt around feeders. So your only task is to differentiate between Cooper's and sharp-shinned if you have a hawk hanging around your feeder. If you really want to split hairs, you can try to figure out which sex it is, but rest assured it's going to be one of those two. Big, think Cooper's, small, think sharp-shin.
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