Sharp-shinned Hawk Kills Again

1st Year Sharp-shinned Hawk plucks a Downy Woodpecker

How many songbirds does a Sharp-shinned Hawk eat in a day?

I watched this one catch and eat 3 at my birdfeeding station today:  a junco, goldfinch and this downy.

Cooper's or Sharp-shinned Hawk Revisited

Sharp-shinned Hawk kills an American Goldfinch

It was another snowy day in the coulees today.  I was sitting at the kitchen table eating a late lunch when I heard the boom of birds bouncing off my kitchen windows.   

No birds were injured by the plate glass, but I spotted a male American Goldfinch dead on the ground, victim of the other predator in my yard.  An accipiter was staning over the body.

I knew it was an immature (brown plumage and yellow eye), but which one?  A Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp-shinned? 

Sharp-shinned Hawks have heavy streaking on the breast;  Cooper's have light streaking.  What's "light?"  What's "heavy?"

I see so few of them, I wasn't sure.  So I went to my bookshelf and pulled out the Photographic Guide to North American Raptors. 

The photo on page 34 showed a juvenile Sharp-shin with "streaking on underparts extends onto belly."  The Cooper's photo on page 37 showed "fine dark streaking ... sparse on the belly."

No question:  it's a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

I wonder how many birds that Sharp-shinned Hawk needs to eat on a snowy winter day...

Sharpshinned Hawk at the Birdfeeder, Again

I could tell something was up again this morning.  No sign of birds at the feeder, or anywhere else in my yard.  I looked up at the Red Maple and there she was - the Sharp-shinned Hawk.   She's become a regular this week.  I suspect I'll be seeing her off and on until it's time to migrate.  

As I watched, she flew from the tree to the feeder pole.

 

How do I know this is an adult female?    While both sexes are similar in plumage, females are considerably bigger than males.  Adults have red eyes.  Immatures have brown to yellow eyes.

Golden Eagles Redux

There was no action at my bird feeders this morning.   Not a bird in sight.  Okay, I thought, maybe the shrike is back, or there's an accipiter on the roof.  

I'd promised to make French toast for breakfast, so I turned my focus to the empty frying pan on the stove.  Eggs, toast and cinnamon, then the coffee grinder.  As I brought breakfast to the table, Tom whispered - stop!  stand still!  look at the feeders!

I stopped and looked at the window, then slowly, very slowly, grabbed my camera.  Yep... this Sharp-shinned Hawk was at my birdfeeders.

He took off and perched in the maple west of the house.  I tip-toed out the back door and circled around the house, hoping to come up behind him.  No such luck.   He saw me coming and flew off to the trees down by Misha Mokwa Creek. 

I took this as an omen.  I had to go out and look for a Golden Eagle.  Tom agreed.  So off we went.

I had stopped to look at one of several flocks of Horned Larks along the roadside.  When I got to the point where I violated their interpersonal distance, they flew.  Then I looked up.  There it was - soaring just above the hills to the east.  When it banked and zoomed towards us, its slightly dihedral wings made me pause.  

I grabbed my binoculars, noted the white patches on the wings and tail.  No doubt about it - a Golden Eagle.   I hopped out of the Prius and aimed my camera.  Snap.  In seconds it was gone, heading towards the Maxville School on State Road 25 - just a mile north of my house.

I got back in car and we continued looking for Bald Eagles and deer carcasses.  We didn't find any. However, we did get an unusually close look at a Black-capped Chickadee.  It was sitting in the middle of County V.  How close could we get in the stealth Prius?

 

I pulled up right next to it, got out of the car and walked right over to it, bird-whispering all the way.  Eyes closed, it seemed the bird was sitting on the road, sunbathing, soaking-up the rays.  But it was odd.  As I knelt down to pick it up, it let out a startled "chick-a-dee-dee-dee," and flew away.  

That's when I realized what was wrong with this picture.  The chickadee left behind a relatively large pile of guano - unnaturally pink and watery.  It might have been hit by a car - or maybe it picked up salmonella at the feeders just down the road (they looked as if they hadn't been cleaned in years). 

The Early Bird and the Hawk

I was an early bird this morning - up and about before the sun slid over the horizon.  I couldn't resist taking a look at my birdfeeders before I fixed myself an espresso.

It was dark, and at at first glance, I didn't see any birds.    Then I saw something moving in the bottom branches of the big spruce.

I grabbed my trusty little Bushnell 7x26 Custom binoculars for a better look.  I expected to see our local Northern Shrike.   It was a little Sharp-shinned Hawk.

I watched him pluck his breakfast.   It looked like a junco, but there wasn't enough light to be sure.  Despite the "bad" light, I pulled out my newly cleaned camera and snapped a photo.

After awhile, I took a break and made my latte.  As I walked back to the window, I knew the hawk was gone.  The feeders were, once again, full of birds.