Sun 14 Feb 2010
Hawk Event at Leisure World
Posted by Nicole under Loudoun Wildlife, News & Events
[3] Comments
Well Dave Thomas and his wife Anne came back from a trip overseas to both the snow and a hawk hunting around the feeders at Leisure World in Lansdowne. I had a similar experience myself with a Coopers hawk that grabbed a Starling but alas, I didn’t get any shots of it. Dave was fast in grabbing the camera and has a great story of the event. You can click on the pictures to see them larger:
Here’s the story of these shots from Dave and yes, it is a Coopers Hawk: Neighbors told us that hawks had been visiting the area of the bird feeders behind our Leisure World condominium, so my wife Anne kept watching whenever she could. Friday (February 12) shortly after noon she said we had a hawk!
The hawk shifted quietly from one tree to the fence, then to a second tree and to a lower branch on that tree (4th and 5th photos). Two seconds after the 5th photo the bird flew off to the east, and I caught 4 shots with my 6-frames-per second burst mode. The action was very fast, so I had no idea that the bird had captured prey until I looked at the series on my computer screen.
My best guess is that the bird is a Cooper’s Hawk, possibly immature, or maybe a Sharp-shinned Hawk. More experienced birders might be able tell. Regardless, it was time well spent to record something I had never seen, and which is hard to see with the unaided eye. The hawk was evidently hunting in its patient waiting mode. It is pretty well concealed by the tree, the snow, and its protective coloring, so the feeding songbirds were around, even though they scatter when hawks first arrive.
Your photos are amazing. I’ve been trying to get some close up shots of the hawks here in Ashburn. They’re magnificent.
While a hawk hunting is a magnificent sight to behold, I always have a horrible feeling when our local hawk (looks like a Cooper’s) swoops down every day (sometimes twice a day) and snatches a bird from the areas surrounding my feeders. Today, it was a Bluebird, yesterday a Downy Woodpecker, another day a Junco. Still makes me feel a bit guilty that I was somehow responsible. Then it uses the swing set for its perch, which is difficult when my daughter goes out and sees a pile of feathers on the ground. She is old enough to understand now, but still hard.
To paraphrase Pete Dunne:
Feeding birds does not cause them to be killed by hawks, it just causes you to be a witness.
He also said something about mere humans not being in a position to judge … but honestly, that’s part of what makes us human, in my judgment. Ha.