Saturday, July 09, 2005
Cruel Skies
Yesterday, all the birds were in an uproar; at first I thought maybe a fledgling was on the ground in the woods, but the bluejays, the cops of the trees, were just going crazy, and then I saw the problem... a red-shouldered hawk had shown up, and had a bird in its talons. The bluejays dove at it, and it dropped its prey (a dead cardinal), and took off with the jays chasing it through the woods. This morning the hawk was back, diving at the birds near the feeder; I didn't see whether it got anything, as it flew rapidly through the trees, and out over the pond, again with the jays on its tail. A squirrel that was on a limb near where the hawk passed, absolutely froze for a full ten minutes , flattening himself against the branch as much as he could. A sharp shinned hawk has been a frequent predator of the birds here, and we have a resident pair of red-tails, but this new raptor seems to have our birds the most upset that I've seen them; many of the birds have quit singing. It is interesting, though, that the jays and some of the other larger birds, like the robins, harass the larger red-shouldered hawk, but when the small sharpie shows up, everybody just scatters and hides. I assume the much smaller sharpie is faster and more maneuverable in the trees, so more dangerous to confront; I've seen him fly tight circles two feet off the ground around a small shrub, trying to flush birds out of it. Hopefully our new raptor will move on, or it will be a songless summer around here.
// posted by IBOY @ 5:29 AM 
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We had a red-shouldered hawk that tried its luck with our yard birds and squirrels, but they're all so vigilant, he couldn't get a sneak attack in. It was almost comical watching him try, but from a predator/prey perspective, there wasn't a dang thing funny about it. It was serious business for all involved in the yard.
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: July 10, 2005
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