Catch On
There are a bumper crop of Cooper's Hawks in the neighborhood this year and they are making themselves quite visible. In the past two weeks - on multiple occasions - we have observed them tag-team hunting. Yesterday morning this one took an easy prize. Several pairs have made repeated and daily attempts to catch a squirrel. Believe me, on every occasion, the squirrel is more than up for the chase with a bag of tricks that has more hiding places than a hobbit.
One of the squirrel's favorite hiding places is under the picnic table. While the hawk will get down on the ground and have a staring contest with the squirrel, hawk will not walk under the table, just patiently wait for the squirrel to bolt. So far, every time the squirrel out-waits the hawk, who gives up for another day.
Last Friday when I saw the hawk back at the picnic table, I thought the chase was on again. This time it had a cute little twist to it. Scroll down for the condensed sequence of events. =)
www.fluidr.com/photos/25709079@N03
EXPLORE - June 29. 2012
May 1, 2013 A sincere thank you to RyGuy - VicCanada for sharing his beautiful painting of the Cooper's hawk. www.flickr.com/photos/69312979@N06/7771327304/in/photostream
Catch On
There are a bumper crop of Cooper's Hawks in the neighborhood this year and they are making themselves quite visible. In the past two weeks - on multiple occasions - we have observed them tag-team hunting. Yesterday morning this one took an easy prize. Several pairs have made repeated and daily attempts to catch a squirrel. Believe me, on every occasion, the squirrel is more than up for the chase with a bag of tricks that has more hiding places than a hobbit.
One of the squirrel's favorite hiding places is under the picnic table. While the hawk will get down on the ground and have a staring contest with the squirrel, hawk will not walk under the table, just patiently wait for the squirrel to bolt. So far, every time the squirrel out-waits the hawk, who gives up for another day.
Last Friday when I saw the hawk back at the picnic table, I thought the chase was on again. This time it had a cute little twist to it. Scroll down for the condensed sequence of events. =)
www.fluidr.com/photos/25709079@N03
EXPLORE - June 29. 2012
May 1, 2013 A sincere thank you to RyGuy - VicCanada for sharing his beautiful painting of the Cooper's hawk. www.flickr.com/photos/69312979@N06/7771327304/in/photostream