Cooper's Hawk in the snow...

The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me,

he complains of my gab and my loitering.

Walt Whitman

Song of Myself, LII

I’ve always liked this line from Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself (click here for an online version of the poem). It makes me laugh. I definitely have been scolded by hawks for loitering...

I don't think a Cooper's Hawk was the "spotted hawk" Whitman wrote about in his poem, but this Cooper's Hawk sure seems to be accusing me of something and complaining about it too!

...and he has every right. Our hawks have lost their perfect backyard perch—the dead limb on the half-dead weeping willow tree that extended out into the yard for prime viewing. "Where's my limb?" he complains. "What have you done with it?" he accuses. For years the hawks always perched on that limb—the hawk branch. It was so hawky it even had its own name. Cooper's Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, and once or twice, even a Red-tailed Hawk, have claimed it, watching the comings and going of everything in our yard, including us. From the perch, the hawks could see directly into our kitchen. We miss the limb as much as the hawks do. It was always a treat to walk into the kitchen and find a hawk sighting us. The hawks are making do with the other branches in the willow, the ash, and the mulberry trees, but it's just not the same...

...the snow was pretty, but it didn't last long!

Beauteous Buteo

I walked into the kitchen Saturday to find a new species of hawk sitting in our half-dead weeping willow tree, Buteo jamaicensis--the Red-tailed Hawk! Compared to the Cooper's or even Red-shouldered Hawks that often perch there, this bird was a monster.

The beautiful rusty red tail of the Red-tailed Hawk was visible from the kitchen. He sat about eye level from me on the most "popular" hawk perch in the tree.

This is the view from our kitchen door. When I walked into the kitchen, I gasped and ran for the camera, thinking "Oh my gosh...that hawk is big!" When Rick came in a few minutes later, he found me standing on the back of the living room chair photographing him through the window and shouted, "Holy Cow! There's a dog in the tree!" (I laughed so hard I almost fell off the chair. Rick is always funny...)

The dog in the tree surveys his territory. We're used to Cooper's Hawks perching here and are familiar with their size. I didn't realize how much larger Red-tailed Hawks were.

Mild irritation seems to be showing on our Red-tailed Hawk's face. He's probably thinking "...enough with the photos, Chicky. Move along..."

"I SAID...enough with the photos...move along!"

"Okay, okay! I'm putting the camera down and am stepping away from the window..."

I wouldn't look so tough if I were you, Mr. Starling. Look who's sitting behind you just above your left shoulder...

Two Cooper's Hawks square off in our half-dead weeping willow tree...

Tuesday, as I got out of the car with groceries in hand, I heard strange hawk sounds coming from the backyard so I ducked out of the garage to have a look. Two Cooper's Hawks were fighting over the prime viewing branch in our great big beautiful half-dead weeping willow tree. "Oh my gosh...I've got to get this" was going through my mind, so I quickly carefully/gently (sort of) dropped the grocery bags on the driveway and dashed inside to get the camera. I shot through the kitchen window and caught the end of the fight. It's the first time I've ever seen two hawks fighting over the branch, but not the first time I've seen two hawks in the tree at the same time. I've often seen an adult and juvenile Cooper's Hawk perched on different branches, and once a Red-shouldered Hawk joined them without any squabbles. This time the juvenile was challenging the adult for "the branch," but she didn't dislodge the adult...he remained king, showing off a few awesome threat displays and not budging when she directly attacked him.

"I'm bigger than you, kid. Beat it."

"Reiteration...bigger, badder, meaner, smarter. Beat it!"

"Actually, pops, I'm bigger." Glare.

Attack!

...another "Art of the Flying Fan Dance" shot (remember the first one?).

"Uh huh...that's what I thought..."

...slyly checking to make sure the interloper was loping away.

King for another day...

Beak Bit
Larry of The Birder's Report let me know he was just reading about Cooper's Hawks and discovered their eye color can be an indicator of their age. Larry wrote, quoting "Birds of North America Online," the eyes are:

"bluish-gray in fledglings, increasingly replaced by yellow in immatures. In brief, yellow or light orange in yearlings, shifting progressively to darker shades of orange and red with age, males averaging darker than females of the same age, and detectable change ceasing at about 5 yr of age."

So our king of the perch may only be a yearling or an older brother of the immature female. Since the younger bird was already larger than the older hawk, I decided she was a female since female hawks are usually larger than the males of the species.

Beauty and the beastie...

Here's the beauty...

This little female Northern Cardinal was so pretty in the snow as she rooted around looking for breadcrumbs.

...and then she tilted her head and gave me that sweet expression--totally melting my heart...

And here's the beastie...

Not really...he's one of the most majestic and beautiful birds that visit my backyard. I always look twice when I see our hawks zipping in and out of branches as they try to nab one of the feeder birds.

...or when I walk into the kitchen and see him sitting in the half-dead weeping willow, seemingly looking right in on me. He hears me every time I click that camera. I don't think he approves. You'd think he would be used to it by now...

Beastie forgives me as he goes back to looking for his lunch.

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk

At first I assumed this guy was a juvenile Cooper's Hawk because we have a lot of adult Cooper's Hawks in our area, but he's a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk! I was just now looking out the window, and a juvenile Cooper's Hawk flew up. His tale had wide bars in it--a definite difference. This fellow's tail has small bars. He would be our first ever juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk! Yeah!!! Last winter, we had an adult Red-shouldered Hawk fly in our yard twice, once on January 17, 2009 and again on January 26, 2009. Maybe this is an offspring of that bird. Exciting!! Thanks Roy (from Roy's World) for mentioning the tail...and thanks Mike (from Everybody Funny) for corroborating!

Hot off the press...this Cooper's Hawk just landed in the backyard. Look at those wide bars in his long tail.

Weather Report...

It's snowing like crazy here. We may get up to 8 inches! I hope so. If we do I'll be out tromping around with my camera tomorrow. There's nothing like fresh fallen snow. (We did get snow through the night--about 5 or 6 inches of it. Rick is outside shoveling now. I'm getting ready to put on my snow gear and head to the Little Miami River. I love snow!!)

Red-shouldered Hawk Stops for Breakfast

A gruesome sight greeted Matty as he walked into the kitchen this morning. A Red-shouldered Hawk flew across the yard and swooped down on a little grey vole. With the vole dangling from his talons, he flew to the willow tree to eat him.


As I was getting ready, I heard Matty shout from the other room, “Mom, come quick! You’ve got to get a picture of this!!” There was no time for setup, so we just shot the photo through the back door glass, hoping for the best. Thanks to Matty’s sharp eye, we see the other side of nature, just as important, just not as cute.