Bird seed, bread crumbs and the morning show

[Avalon]

I've watched the sharp shins do that as well. Sparrows dive into a shrub. The hawk tries to flush one out into open air, and will take out after it. Quite a show.

About a week ago, I had a group of 5 Mississippi kites circling over low on their migration route south. Magnificent birds. Related to peregrines as I recall.

 

[Ally]

We feed birds on our front porch every morning and our cat spends an hour or so watching them. Sometimes she can't restrain herself and she jumps at the window and watches them all fly off. We have mostly Dove, Blue Jays and Sparrows.


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[ExFlyBoy5]

It's been crazy around here. The cardinals are reproducing like mad (just when I think they are done with the 3rd set, another couple of groups come along) and are quite the seed hogs. And those young-uns are just lazy and make a lot of noise when they are waiting (quite impatiently) to be fed!

 

[Redbugdave]

We have bird feeders going all year and feed hummingbirds, too. I recommend you get a good bird book, (I like Sibley's bird books), and a good set of binoculars. Pretty soon you will be learning bird calls. I took the Master Naturalist Course this past spring and really enjoyed it. I should have been a biologist and am catching up on it now.

Then there's butterflies, and dragonflies, and wildflowers, and...

 

[yakers]

Hawk ID?

I have a Droll Yankee birdfeeder which is actually squirrel proof, have videos to prove it. But I get visited by a hawk which I feel bad about since I'm feeding mostly finches, sparrows & doves, occasional grosbeak & few others. One day we are watchng as we saw a bird lirerally exploed in the air, hawk hit, took a bad cell phone pic, is it a Coopers hawk or peregrenine or something else?

 

[cantlogin]

I'm not certain, but it looks like a Cooper's Hawk to me.

 

[cantlogin]

I think that this is a Sharp Shinned hawk, outside my window.
They come around to eat my bird feeder birds sometimes.
Sometimes I also see larger, similar hawks that I think are Cooper's hawks.

 

[mpeirce]

While I enjoy watching the seed eating birds at the feeder, I also enjoy watching the hawks.

Our local Cooper's Hawk (they are by far the most common around feeders) is a master at taking advantage of feeders. When it visits our yard it uses the houses as cover to surprise the smaller birds. It approaches at high speed and weaves around the houses. Sometimes it pops up over the house and comes down from above. Impressive.

 

[splitwdw]

Last evening in the deepening dusk, I heard a chirping sound coming from the back yard....turns out it was one of the red tailed hawks that live in the open space behind my house.


I snapped a couple of poor pics using my small digital camera from the kitchen window- a bit grainy cuz of the low light.

This is a Cooper hawk, note the rounded tail. Sharp shinned have square tails. Nice view.

 

[Live And Learn]

I have the feeders up all year. This year we actually had hummers all summer - they usually just pass through during their migration. I've done alot of work to have a certified Backyard Wildlife Habitat, along with an advanced Bird Habitat certificate. I'm on approx 1/3rd of an acre but you really don't even need that much space. Once the NWF starts offering the advanced Butterfly certificate I'll be getting that also. The best way to attract critters is to use native plants (aka wildflowers, akaweeds LOL). The plants attract their attention; the feeders are their bonus for stopping by.

 

[BBQ-Nut]

This is a Cooper hawk, note the rounded tail. Sharp shinned have square tails. Nice view.

Excellent observation and noted.

I love tidbits that serve as the tell 'tail' discriminator.

Thanks!

 

[BBQ-Nut]

The show had a dramatic close to the day yesterday, well, from the look of things it did.

I was sitting in the kitchen nook looking out the window late in the afternoon and the light of the setting sun hitting the tree tops when from the corner of my eye I see a cloud descending right outside the window.

But it wasn't a cloud, it was a cloud of feathers falling, softly, slowly en mass.

I surmised that it must have been from a meeting of the Cooper's hawk that hangs out along the fence line and one of the morning doves.

Going outside, I was expecting to find the hawk perched in a tree with its prey, but could not any such trace.

A minute or two passes and the hawk does swoop by and land in one of the trees in my back yard. It looks and me, I look at him, then it decides to streak away.

Going back to the pile of feathers, I examine their shape, color, and pattern and googled first what an individual morning dove feather looks like - yup.

I just hope that the remains are not on my roof which may attract other non-desirables.

 

[BBQ-Nut]

Was sitting in the kitchen nook and watching the birds have their morning meal after tossing out some bird seed as usual when the Coopers hawk that patrols the fence line made its morning pass.


The birds scattered and I heard a loud *THUMP* against the dining room window which also faces onto the back yard.


Went to see if it was ok, which it was and saw this imprinted on the window:

You can see the bird strike outline (morning dove)...glad to know it flew away ok.


But it did give me a chuckle.

 

[splitwdw]

Was sitting in the kitchen nook and watching the birds have their morning meal after tossing out some bird seed as usual when the Coopers hawk that patrols the fence line made its morning pass.


The birds scattered and I heard a loud *THUMP* against the dining room window which also faces onto the back yard.


Went to see if it was ok, which it was and saw this imprinted on the window:

You can see the bird strike outline (morning dove)...glad to know it flew away ok.


But it did give me a chuckle.

I'm rooting for the underdog; so glad the mourning dove got away. That imprint is funny. Maybe he was wearing the same brand helmet that Hermit was wearing when he bit the dust skiing.

 

[mpeirce]

The birds scattered and I heard a loud *THUMP* against the dining room window which also faces onto the back yard.

This used to happen all the time to us. Often doves, but also other birds. Once I saw a passed out cardinal on the deck and eventually it woke up and flew away.

We moved the feeder away from the house for this winter, so no more window imprints for us.