[Birdtalk] A Different Kind of Baby Bird Story

[Kristin Purdy]

The baby birds are providing great watching in Ogden, too. But this morning's watching provided a different kind of baby bird story.

The first bird I saw when I looked through my kitchen window this morning was an adult Cooper's Hawk about 10 feet from the window in an aspen tree. This bird was not watching quietly; it looked aggressive. The hawk took several huge hops, changing perches a couple times just outside the window and next to the deck while I remained still inside. He or she held nothing in her talons.

Then the hawk flew down to the back border of the yard and I had a few misgivings about the bird's presence, which I normally love. Fifteen baby California Quail had hatched along that landscaped bed just yesterday and I shot my things-to-do-list while I watched the family every time they scurried across an opening in the shrubs. The Cooper's Hawk, however, had other prey in mind.

One more foray to the back corner of the yard brought the predator to the top of the trellis and just where it wanted to be. The hawk swooped down, scribed a tight circle around a dogwood and landed about 10 feet out in the grass. I snuck out on the deck this time to an explosion of sound. Starlings were going crazy. Lesser Goldfinches were tee-yeeing their alarm. And the Cooper's Hawk suffered the turnabout-is-fair-play-routine as an aggressive Barn Swallow swooped and swooped and swooped at the hawk in the grass while the hawk ducked every time.

Finally, the hawk flew back up to the trellis and I could see it was fisting a limp gray bird in one taloned foot. I could only tell that the prey was neither adult nor baby California Quail. The hawk plucked its prey and feathers floated off my trellis and down into the grass. But the hawk had likely spied me up on the deck and my presence was not welcome. He or she flew then, across another yard and dropping below the opposite side of a fence.

I walked down to the corner to examine the feathers. As I arrived I saw an adult starling perched quietly in the trees above the trellis. A loud fluttering in the shrubs and a peek inside revealed the presence of a juvenile starling, not particularly mobile, but trying to get away from me. The family of starlings that nested in a neighbor's eve must have fledged just this morning. They were mighty noisy up in the neighbor's eave as I watched the quail yesterday. 

The feathers on the grass were all drab gray, some with brownish tips. My guess is that one fewer baby starling is in my yard now. It's also likely that the flesh of that bird is supporting babies of a different feather, raptor babies that could actually use our help, unlike starling babies. 

I'm also encouraged to know that a pair of Cooper's Hawks might be nesting in my neighborhood. I saw a Cooper's several times early in the nesting season and haven't seen one again until this morning. This species' willingness to nest in neighborhoods and city parks is quite welcome in my book. Increasingly, we don't have to wait until they raid our feeders in the winter to get a good close look. 

Kris
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://secureserver.securesites.net/pipermail/birdtalk/attachments/20060628/58af03ab/attachment-0001.htm