Cooper's Portraits
(click on image for larger version)
A gorgeous Cooper's Hawk hunted in our backyard this afternoon. It cornered a House Sparrow beneath our garden hose storage compartment for several minutes, but came up empty after the sparrow made an amazing dash for cover under our deck. Still optimistic, the hawk perched on the deck railing for a while and watched, but the sparrow wasn't about to give up its hiding spot. Eventually the Cooper's lost interest and flew to our neighbor's yard. I managed to capture these close-up portraits of the hawk by poking my spotting scope & camera out our patio window.
(click on image for larger version)
(click on image for larger version)
When the Cooper’s Hawk wasn’t around, other birds in our backyard included:
Hairy Woodpecker -1
Downy Woodpecker -1
Dark-eyed Junco - 10+
House Finch - 2
American Goldfinch - 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Black-capped Chickadee - 2
Mourning Dove - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2
American Crow - 2
Blue Jay - 5
(click on image for larger version)
Happy Holidays to all!
Cooper's Hawk images © 2006 Mike McDowell
4 Comments:
Incredible photos! Your talent is vast.
As usual, stunning photos. I'm surprised I don't get more raptor action in my backyard--the feeders are always pretty active with songbirds, but I guess the hawks stick to the barren fields around me or the marsh behind the house something, because that's usually where I see them.
Thanks!
I have been surfing, looking for white breasted nuthatch pictures to paint for a Christmas card this year. I came across your stunning photos of the Cooper's Hawk, and then saw your list of birds usually in your yard. I walked out to my kitchen this morning, and on top of our very large feeder sat a large Red tailed Hawk. Tried being sneaky with the camera, but he flew. Not 10 seconds after he took off, two or three birds, jays and chickadees, were back at the feeder. Hawks are gorgeous but I hate it when they do get one of the regulars...
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