Cooper's at work...
(click on the image for larger version)
Check out this adult Cooper’s Hawk over the remains of a Mourning Dove taken yesterday in our backyard. Oh, the temptation for sneaking out the garage door, but I didn’t want to flush the bird from its fresh meal. Rather, I chose to photograph through our patio window - the sharpness isn’t what it might have been, but the posture, shape and color of the bird is still super cool.
Cooper's Hawk image © 2006 Mike McDowell
posted by Mike McDowell @ 1:34 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
This is pretty cool Mike! Exactly two mornings ago at around 7:30 am, I noticed a Cooper's hawk standing in the middle of my backyard! I was so curious, but soon spotted a European starling caught under its talons!! It had just sniped it off the ground under my feeder. It then proceeded to maticulously pluck off every single feather on that poor starling, then proceeded to eat it. The fiasco lasted about 30 minutes, after which a bloody yellow bill was the only trace left of that starling!!
cheers,
Raed Abughazaleh
Minneapolis, MN
Awesome photo!
Good thing you keep your windows nice and clean! Tough choice between the ability to get a good photo through the glass vs covering windows with netting to prevent colisions...
Keep up the wonderful postings!
Guy David
Lac du Flambeau, WI
Hi Guy,
Actually, this is the first time I’ve ever photographed through glass. When photographing backyard birds, I far prefer to be on our deck with no obstructions. However, our patio window is absolutely filthy! I don't think Becky or I have cleaned it in two years.
Normally, there is a sliding screen door in front of it to dampen any bird collisions, but I had left the screen partway open. Thus, I was able to get the photograph through a narrow opening of glass. Also, I was about 10 feet from the window, so anything on its surface wasn’t likely to create a noticeable obstruction as it was well outside of the focal depth of field.
We’ve installed birdscreen (from www.birdscreen.com) on all our large windows, and we plan to cover our small windows in the near future. Additionally, we have situated our bird feeders to minimize the likelihood of collisions of our regular feathered visitors.
Mike M.
Hi Mike:
Nice shot.
I try to be cautious about accipiter IDs, and you had the "live" look at the bird, but I'm wondering if this might not be a big female Sharpie. Square tail, not much white on the end, round head with crown not real dark. Just a thought ...
RJP
Hi RJP,
The head of this bird seems much too elongated to my eye for a female Sharp-shinned Hawk. Though the tail appears to be square at first glance, it is the middle retrices that are nearly touching the right edge of the photograph. The leftmost tail feathers are noticeably shorter than the center, making the tail a rounded one. What you're essentially seeing is that the left half of the tail is obstructing the right half. Cooper's Hawks can often lose quite a bit of white on the tail tip by spring. Perhaps a more evident field mark to me is the lack of prominent rufous ariculars, whereas this bird is much lighter rufous with some gray. With the very dark gray cap, darker than the dorsum, and a uniformly pale gray nape, I think what we've got here is an adult male Cooper's Hawk.
Cheers,
Mike M.
I like to use the bill and leg sizes for ID's from stills. I would call this a Cooper's based on the proportions of the bill and the thickness of the legs. Kaufmann's Advanced Birding in the Peterson Series has a good chapter on this.
Mike, had you not mentioned the glass I'd not have known, but I not as good a photographer as you, or as most people as a matter of fact. I had a fun bit yesterday as I was trying to get a shot of a passing locomotive for my dad, he's a big railfan, and get this for a setup. Nokia 3220 cameraphone through a Nikon 7x35 Action. I got the cab numbers, that's all he wanted.
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