All’s Quiet at the Bird Feeder

January 6, 2010 @ 8:18 am | Filed under:

Gee, I wonder why.

perched

Blurry photo. Couldn’t be helped. Baby tugging on arm, etc. This fellow was perched atop our back fence about three feet from the bird feeder. Later, Scott saw him plummet out of the sky into our bushes. Sorry, little sparrows.


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Comments

13 Reponses | Comments Feed
  1. Ellie says:

    Oh, my. Lovely!

    (Sorry — we’re partial to hawks! *hides*).

  2. sarah says:

    Wow. Stunning.

  3. MelanieB says:

    I’m caught between ‘magnificent’ and ‘poor sparrows’. But mostly ‘wow cool’.

  4. Melissa Wiley says:

    Ellie—us too. Scott and I even mapped our honeymoon route (a road trip through New Hampshire and Vermont) around a raptor center in VT. I love to see hawks and was quite squee over this one, but I did feel bad about luring the unsuspecting sparrows to their doom. 🙂

  5. Penny in VT says:

    Speaking of VT ;), we have hawks that nest in our yard. This year a pair of adults have stayed through the winter. Huzzah!

    Gorgeous!

    (PS: Thank you for introducing Robert Burns to my youngest in the Martha books – brilliant, how you do that.. We are reading what we can of his and listening to his songs – is there anything better than Robert Burns songs sung by a Scotsman?)

  6. Kimberlee says:

    Great shot! You go, hawk, and eat the house sparrows! (and only the house sparrows) Is it a Red-shouldered? Unable to fully see the wings or tail, Lydia is befuddled. 🙂

  7. Jeanne says:

    I’m just tickled over “quite squee.”

  8. Barbara says:

    Neat! I showed my 10 yr old son who loves birds and he says it looks like a ferruginous hawk.

  9. susanna eve says:

    we live in the city. We didn’t manage to get a photo but we once had a hawk not only come near our bird feeder but actually snag a small bird and leave a literally bloody mess in the snow near the bird feeder:(

  10. Helen says:

    Melissa – this is Coopers Hawk – GREAT shot!
    He will stay in your place – but not for long, I hope – he’ll need to “patrol” the neighborhood 🙂
    Look here:
    http://www.hmrprint.com/helensphotos/HAWKS.html

  11. Anna says:

    Yes, a Cooper’s Hawk. We have a cousin, the Sharp Shinned, that shows up here now and then. It is amusing when a very busy feeder only moments ago is now deadly silent.

  12. Melissa Wiley says:

    Yay, Helen, I was hoping you would chime in! Thanks to you and Anna for the ID.

    Everyone, be sure to click through the link in Helen’s comment—she has a site full of amazing photos of birds, butterflies, and other wild things. My kids love to explore it. 🙂

  13. Birdzilla says:

    Thats why there should be some cover for the little birds can hide