The Observation Deck

So today while on my front porch, I noticed I have 2 new neighbors. I was able to get pictures of the close one. After I took some pictures s/he decided to fly right next to me and sit on my railing.

Missy,
We have a nice couple living in our big oak tree in our front yard too. You will find that your chipmunk population will greatly diminish!

Looks like it could be a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. I tried pasting the url, but it was 80 million characters long. A Google search will turn up images.

Not sure that I've ever seen a sharp-shinned hawk. I'm far from expert, but my GUESS is that yours is a Cooper's Hawk. Very common in Lakewood. Amazing and aggressive hunters.

Here's a Wikipedia link:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper%27s_hawk


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Yep,

Lakewood's got a bunch of Chicken (Coopers) Hawks...

I think they heard about that potential chicken breedin' stuff we were plannin' to do...

I remember Chicken Hawks from my youth up in the hills and hollers...

Don't let any of your puppies outside for very long either....

http://tinyurl.com/d7ebrp

http://tinyurl.com/da7mev


Check out the plumage on the breast. My first thought was Coopers, but the plumage is different, so I compared the two. The first link is Sharp-Shinned, the second link is the Coopers Hawk. I have never seen a Sharp-Shinned either. How could they have eluded me?

Okay, now I'm so not sure, I should have looked at the Stephen provided. Hmmm.

We've had Coopers hawks in our yard and I've seen them in action at Marc's.

And Gary, you bring back (now) fond memories of keeping a broom handy when we took our former puppies out to their x-pen during the day. Before too long they were too big for the hawks, but I remember having detailed discussions about hawk bait with Bill Davis, an avid bird watcher...

My vote is Coopers Hawk.

Yesterday they both were out jsut making this squeek sound and sitting there watching us play. It was calming to see them, yet a bit scary too. All I kept thinking is that they were going to try to eat my puppies. LOL.
Thank you for the links to the birds. They sure are gorgeous and fun to watch.

Robert Bobik wrote:Okay, now I'm so not sure, I should have looked at the Stephen provided. Hmmm.

I think they are kind of similar. I usually identify the Cooper's Hawks by their behavior and the bars on the tail, but it seems that the Sharp-shinned also have bars. I don't think the Sharp-shinned are as common here, and I don't know their behavior.

The Cooper's Hawks are well adapted to urban and suburban environments. They love bird feeders. While birds, squirrels, and chipmunks congregate for bird seed, they provide a perfect buffet for the hawks. I probably witness a killing every couple of weeks at my back yard feeders.

Here's another reference from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website All About Birds:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBi ... _Hawk.html

These hawks are fun to watch. They are agile enough to work among trees in close area's. Unlike Red-tailed hawks, they don't just sit on a high place waiting for something to move in the grass below. They move fast and low through the trees on their killing missions.

All About Birds wrote:Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a rather dangerous lifestyle. A recent study found that 23 percent of all Cooper's Hawks examined had healed fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula or wishbone.

All About Birds wrote:A Cooper's Hawk captures a bird with its feet, and will squeeze it repeatedly to kill it. It does not bite the prey to kill it in the fashion of falcons, but holds it away from its body until it dies. It has been known to drown its prey, holding a bird under water until it stops moving.

Steve

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When we lived on St Charles, I pulled into the driveway one day to see a Cooper's Hawk eating a pigeon in the middle of our driveway. We had about a five second stare-down (with me thinking "Take that pigeon with you!) before he picked up the pigeon and flew off.