Red tailed hawk or Cooper's hawk? A hawk at any rate

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Adrienne

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Dec 19, 2021, 5:57:19 PM12/19/21
to Mid-Valley Nature
From Adrienne, Corvallis

WOW!!! I was outside in the rain adding food to the bird feeders (I got a new bird feeder with a cage around it to protect the little song birds from European starlings, scrub jays, squirrels, the occasional hawk), So here I am by one of the trees, working on a suet feeder, thinking about how the squirrels are going to knock it down in the rain puddle..... then WOAH... large wings fluttering next to my head... a giant Ana's hummingtbird? Oh not exactly, RATHER, a Cooper's Hawk or a Red-tailed hawk? It flew away from me like a FRISBEE and perched itself on the fence. I said "WOW" towards it and it flew away from the garden. Did not looked phased though. Hmmmmm. Did it see the swinging suet feeder and take it for a bird? Did it see me as a gigantic hen? Was it telling me I was annoying during its hunting time.......




csh...@bywordofmind.com

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Dec 19, 2021, 6:32:40 PM12/19/21
to Adrienne, Mid-Valley Nature
Amazing coincidence?!?  

Since late morning we've witnessed a very unusual 4 visits (that I've witnessed) from what I think is Sharp-shined Hawk at the feeder station on our back porch. It's flown back and forth a few times and perched, briefly, twice.  

This fellow seemed bigger than a Kestrel, smaller than the Cooper's who is usually our main hawk neighbor, pale brownish and more compact than a Merlin.  So, I'm betting on a Sharpie.

Maybe the intensity of the rain is impacting their flight, making a rapid escape too much of an effort.  Steve's rain guage got 2 1/8 inches in 48 hrs as of about 1PM (Hurrah!).  Frazier Creek drains through the grass seed fields below Logsdon Ridge and has turned into what we call 'Lake of the flats'.

Carma Henry
Logsdon Ridge
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Adrienne

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Dec 19, 2021, 6:50:46 PM12/19/21
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Yes, it could be the same bird? https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sharp-shinned_Hawk/id
We've had a visiting Cooper's hawk every day lately. But this hawk was different, no blue, all brown, a little smaller.
But I was a pretty big target to come flying through the branches at... he must have gaged that the corn or the suet feeder was a mourning dove (although hawk's have excellent vision) or not sure what he thought. There were no birds nearby.

howard bruner

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Dec 20, 2021, 2:56:15 PM12/20/21
to Adrienne, Mid-Valley Nature
Hi Adrienne

I have a seemingly ridiculous question - Do you happen to have reddish hair? 

The reason I asked is my sister and I are gingers and we have both experienced the type of hawk encounter you describe. We think it has to do with reddish hair being one of those colors that are hard-wired in avian predators to consider a source of prime prey.

H.
From: mid-vall...@googlegroups.com <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Adrienne <330healt...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2021 2:57 PM

To: Mid-Valley Nature <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [MidValleyNature:6344] Red tailed hawk or Cooper's hawk? A hawk at any rate
From Adrienne, Corvallis

WOW!!! I was outside in the rain adding food to the bird feeders (I got a new bird feeder with a cage around it to protect the little song birds from European starlings, scrub jays, squirrels, the occasional hawk), So here I am by one of the trees, working on a suet feeder, thinking about how the squirrels are going to knock it down in the rain puddle..... then WOAH... large wings fluttering next to my head... a giant Ana's hummingtbird? Oh not exactly, RATHER, a Cooper's Hawk or a Red-tailed hawk? It flew away from me like a FRISBEE and perched itself on the fence. I said "WOW" towards it and it flew away from the garden. Did not looked phased though. Hmmmmm. Did it see the swinging suet feeder and take it for a bird? Did it see me as a gigantic hen? Was it telling me I was annoying during its hunting time.......




Pam and Randy Comeleo

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Dec 20, 2021, 3:23:13 PM12/20/21
to howard bruner, Adrienne, Mid-Valley Nature

I like that theory, H!  It would explain why MY sister whose hair has artificially acquired red tones was strafed by a Cooper’s Hawk at Marys Peak years ago in the overflow parking lot for the campground!

 

-Pam

howard bruner

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Dec 20, 2021, 3:26:02 PM12/20/21
to Pam and Randy Comeleo, Adrienne, Mid-Valley Nature
Yep, Pam, We reds are always taking the heat.
From: mid-vall...@googlegroups.com <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Pam and Randy Comeleo <rott...@peak.org>
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2021 12:23 PM
To: 'howard bruner' <hbru...@hotmail.com>; 'Adrienne' <330healt...@gmail.com>; 'Mid-Valley Nature' <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: [MidValleyNature:6348] Red tailed hawk or Cooper's hawk? A hawk at any rate
 

Adrienne

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Dec 20, 2021, 5:38:23 PM12/20/21
to howard bruner, Mid-Valley Nature
Hello Howard,

Interesting. My hair is fair, blond & light brown so would shine reddish in the light and I was putting up a suet feeder with shiny copper cover, and another caged feeder for the smaller birds in copper.
So, that sounds like it did indeed attract the hawk.

Adrienne

csh...@bywordofmind.com

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Dec 21, 2021, 9:12:21 PM12/21/21
to Mid-Valley Nature
Intended to send this to the whole list yesterday, but ended up hitting reply for just Harry.  So the rain guage info is a day old now.

-------- Original message --------
Date: 12/20/21 6:37 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: Harry Fuller <ato...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [MidValleyNature:6345] Red tailed hawk or Cooper's hawk? A hawk at any rate

The only red thing on our back porch is one hummer feeder.  The hawk that came in on Friday was, I'm fairly sure, after a meal of one of the many birds coming into the feeders.  Occasional found piles of feathers confirm that this is a good spot for raptors to have lunch.  My id as a sharpie vs Cooper's is based mostly on size.  Both have been porch visitors.  I only saw it perched on the back of a chair for a brief moment the first time, so missed the tail.  The second time it was on a piece of bamboo that we have fastened above a sunflower seed feeder and it was shaking vigorously; so no tail then either.  I could have gotten a better look but was fumbling for my camera.  I wonder how many millions of good observation opportunities we miss while trying to get our cameras ready to make a 'permanent record' of a sighting.  What a conundrum!

No wonder the poor bird was feeling soggy.... since my post yesterday the rain gauge accumulated another 2 15/16ths rain.  So 5 3/16ths in 72 hrs.  Here's hoping it correlates to a good snow pack in the mountains.  I think I was about 12 or 13, so maybe 1964/65, when we had over 4 feet of snow on our flat (leaky) roof in Springfield.

Carma Henry 
Logsdon Ridge

-------- Original message --------
From: Harry Fuller <ato...@gmail.com>
Date: 12/19/21 5:55 PM (GMT-08:00)
Subject: Re: [MidValleyNature:6345] Red tailed hawk or Cooper's hawk? A hawk at any rate

the sharpie has flat ended tail, not rounded--single best fieldmark
we get both birds in our garden now

--
Harry Fuller
author of: San Francisco's Natural History: Sand Dunes to Streetcars:
author of Freeway Birding: freewaybirding.com
birding website: http://www.towhee.net
my birding blog: atowhee.wordpress.com

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