Friday, June 26, 2009

Bird Feeder

Cooper's Hawk after catching a robin.

That's what I'm calling myself: a bird feeder. I feed small birds like bluebirds and cardinals at the suet and sunflower seed feeder but I also feed bigger birds like hawks. Above is a Cooper's hawk. I don't really do it on purpose, but living in a wooded area with lots of prey around, invariably you're going to see some hunting. This is the second time I've seen this bird swoop through the trees and land a tasty meal. The first time was early last Saturday morning when this hawk nailed a bluebird in mid-flight. What was amazing was that it happened about 10 feet in front of me. Now again, this afternoon when I was walking outside to get some thyme from the garden this guy (or girl) swooped down from above and caught a robin. If you look carefully you can see the robin under the hawk's talons. Both attacks happened in about the same spot and both of them happened about 10 or 15 feet from me. This hawk likes to show off.