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| I think this is a Cooper's Hawk |
Among other things, his prey is supposed to include squirrels. Apparently, his scan didn't involve looking down.
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| Directly below him was Mr. Squirrel, hard at work stealing seed from the so-called "squirrel-buster" bird feeder |
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| Mr. Squirrel appears as oblivious to their proximity as Mr. Hawk |
The squirrel can never sustain his gymnastics on the bird feeder for long. He inevitably loses his balance and falls to the ground but he recovers quickly and usually makes several forays in a row. He made at least two runs at the feeder as I watched. The hawk never moved.
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| But he looked up as soon as I went out the door to get a better picture |
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| And he immediately took off |
Mr. Squirrel lives on, working hard to perfect his acrobatic skills during his raids on my feeders.
For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter and Hum.
All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Squirrel - it's what's for dinner. Great photos from your office of Mr. Squirrels antics and handsome Mr. Hawk. Wonder if hawk was waiting for squirrel to go to a more open space without a pesky bird feeder in the way.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed to me that a squirrel with his belly pointed up and only a tentative hold on the feeder pole with his back legs would be easy game but you're probably right that it'd be difficult for the hawk to swoop in from that angle.
DeleteOh darn... well, maybe he was sitting there digesting Mr Squirrel's cousin. Too bad he probably can't carry a raccoon very far.
ReplyDeleteI read that the hawks restrict their prey choices to animals no heavier than themselves so, unfortunately, most raccoons are out of their weight class.
DeleteGreat shots of the hawk! Especially the one of him in flight.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised I caught him in flight at all - they move pretty fast!
DeleteGuess he wasn't hungry, eh? Looks like it was a gorgeous day, at least for basking. :)
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, it was surprised that the hawk was facing the garden, as opposed to the horizon as they usually do (even if he can turn his head 180 degrees). Maybe it was just a rest stop!
DeleteWhat a beauty. Lucky squirrel.
ReplyDeletethe squirrel probably never realized how lucky he was!
DeleteApparently there is now a London restaurant with grey squirrel lasagne on the menu, it was featured on the BBC news website yesterday. Almost worth the ten hour round trip.. well it might be if I wasn’t going veggie.
ReplyDeleteI guess I shouldn't be surprised that a restaurant might want to offer its customers the ultimate revenge but I'm not sure I could stomach going that far. Some locals here have posted photos of roasted peacock on the internet - there's a cohort of individuals who feel about peacocks what some of us feel toward squirrels.
DeleteThis is grimly hilarious. That's one bold squirrel... and one oblivious hawk (possibly just full from a recent hunt?) Here the squirrels zip up into evergreen trees at the slightest sign of hawk. They live on what they store away for winter (black walnuts, acorns), since we don't put out bird feed.
ReplyDeleteI'd swear that the squirrels here specialize with it comes to their dietary choices, Nell. Some focus on bird seed and others eat guavas and other fruit (ripe or not).
DeleteI think you are right about it being a coopers hawk. It was probably hopeful that a nice fat dove would drop in. It takes less energy to snatch a bird rather than that squirrel that would fight back. Or maybe it just wanted to rest after a meal it already had.
ReplyDeleteAh, I guess he didn't realize that the doves hang out around the south end of the garden.
DeleteBlankety-blank squirrels. Mr Hawk is observing carefully--he may make his move when the right moment arrives.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the hawks more often since the poor mimosa tree was effectively cut in half. I've yet to see a decrease in the squirrel population though.
DeletePerhaps the hawk will be back for a fresh lunch tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteI will never forget a hawk hunting birds in the week before we left our Camps Bay garden. And once in Porterville when our huge flock suddenly went deathly silent, as if someone had flicked a loadshedding switch.
The smaller birds seem smarter than the greedy squirrel - they always disappear when a hawk arrives, if not immediately beforehand.
DeleteI don't have enough open pace around my garden for the hawks but I do get Harriers - a more petite version, and they cause a fair amount of hell-raising when they land in the neighborhood trees. I have a platform type bird feeder that I fill when I am home enough to chase off the squirrels if need be. If I leave it empty for several days they stop coming around. I've developed a bit of a cycle to try to foil them.
ReplyDeleteI let my feeders go empty for weeks at a time here too, Kathy. Still, it seems the squirrels take notice when the feeders have been filled more promptly than the birds do.
DeleteGreat photos of the hawk and your wonderful views. In a previous garden a sparrow hawk used to nest in one of my trees. He didn't eat squirrels but I watched him catch many little birds. It was hearbreaking.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is that I'd have probably been traumatized to see the hawk pick up the squirrel too. In this case, I was mainly amazed that the 2 seemed to ignore each other.
DeleteMaybe Mr. Hawk had just had a meal so wasn't hungry! More interesting was why the squirrel didn't realise the hawk was above it. Great images.
ReplyDeleteYes, I thought the squirrel would be more skittish. He certainly takes off as soon as I get within 15 feet - and I've never been known to eat squirrel!
DeleteYour squirrel buster feeders look about like mine--full of squirrels! Pretty cool hawk. I'm so envious of the folks with $6000 telephoto lens's...well, maybe not too envious.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that the local store that sells these feeders is careful to describe that as "squirrel resistant" rather than "squirrel proof". A $6K lens would be wasted on me. I'm just happy if I can get my subjects into something resembling focus before I click.
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