My Coopers Hawk

Totally Judy

Totally Judy

Joined
Dec 3, 2000
Messages
4,347
This morning I was getting ready for work, and happened to look out the kitchen window. There was a creature sitting over by the Creosote bush where the rabbits and other critters hang out.

Then it starting moving towards the water pan I keep out so the critters can always get water. Well slap my face and call me Dr. Doolittle. It was what I thought was probably a hawk. But I figured it must be sick since it was walking around. I've never seen a hawk flying around my house.

So I got out my camera and started taking pictures through the window. But I figured if it was really sick, I needed to get it into a box or other container and take it to a guy down the road who takes care of injured or sick birds. I grabbed a towel and a box, and walk outside and past the fence and over to where the hawk was. I got to within about 15 feet of it and it still didn't move. It just looked at me. I took some more pictures. Finally, it flew up to my rooftop and saw there. Hey! It must not be injured or sick because it was flying just fine.

Then it flew over my roof. Darn, where did it go? So I walked around to the other side of the house and he was sitting on my power lines. What a beautiful creature. I was standing almost underneath him taking pictures. Finally he flew over to a higher power line. Oh well. I went back inside to get ready for work.

But I wanted to share some of the pictures. The one with the chain link fence is it was taken from inside the house and through the kitchen window. Then one of him sitting on the edge of the water pan, and another sitting near by. The last two are of him sitting on my power line.

CoopersHawkgettingwater.jpg



CoopersHawklookleft.jpg



CoopersHawkside.jpg



CoopersHawkclose.jpg
 
Those are great pictures.

He wanted you to have those pictures of him. He was being very kind to you... probably thanking you for the bird bath.
 
Thanks Judy.

A few Christmas' ago, I lost a chinese silky chicken to a cooper's Hawk. My pics couldn't touch yours
 
Thanks for those good photos of a fine looking bird. I enjoyed them, too. We live in a little neighborhood here at the edge of town and it's just overflowing with hawks, though I'm not good enough to tell you which variety. They often patrol in pairs or sit by themselves in the tops of the trees in our yard, all the while calling to each other or telling all the little nearby rodents and reptiles, "Hey, guys, the Purina Hawk Chow sack is empty and your next on the list!" :D We really enjoy hearing and seeing our hawks, and our owls, too.
 
Thanks for posting these cool pictures.

These Birds are amazing and fun to watch.:thumbup:
 
Great pictures , thanks. Remember that this time of year is migration time for hawks .If you want to see them in huge numbers go to the areas where they concentrate like Hawk Mountain in eastern PA.
 
Hawks ARE cool! I once watched in awe as one snatched a small bird in flight.
 
Glad y'all are enjoying the pictures. I was so excited to see a hawk up close, much less have the opportunity to walk up close to it to take some pictures.

I showed a couple of pics to one of my maintenance guys, who is my main source of all things involving nature. He just is a walking encyclopedia. Dogs, horses, hawks, eagles, ravens, - he just knows.

He immediately identified my hawk as a Coopers Hawk and told me that he was a juvenile and explained the differences in appearance between a juvenile and adult. A juvenile's eyes are yellow, an adults are red. The cap on the adult turns blue (he said), but I can't find that online. It gets darker as they mature.

He explained that the reason I was able to get so close to the hawk was because it was a juvenile and had not yet developed the fear instinct. That sure explains why he just sat there and looked at me. Any other bird, even little ones, would have been off in flight as soon as I opened my front door.

When I told him that I was going to try to capture him with a towel because I thought he was sick, he told me that would have not been good. He said that little hawk would have torn me up with his feet and claws. I believe he said that he was wearing a gauntlet and trying to do something with a similar hawk, and even with the gauntlet on it almost broke his thumb, I think.

So lucky for me that the hawk flew up and over the house, or I'd be mincemeat right now, probably with lots of stitches. I've been chewed on by a macaw, and that gets pretty ugly. I can't even imagine getting clawed by a Coopers Hawk. This guy said that Coopers Hawks don't kill and eat their prey with their beak like a Falcon. Coopers Hawks grab their prey with their feet and just continue to squeeze and apply pressure with their feet until the prey is dead. Just squeezes the llife out of it.

Yep. I'm lucky that hawk was nice enough to spare me the infliction of pain and injury!!!

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I really do like the pictures. They are so special to me because it was MY hawk, at my house, and I took the pictures. Golly gee whiz, that is a neat feeling.

Thanks for looking at my pictures.

TJ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top