Cooper’s Hawks and the Elegant Dance
Cooper’s Hawks are regular visitors to our yard. I see one every few days now that our bird feeders attract a large mixed flock of winter…
Cooper’s Hawks are regular visitors to our yard. I see one every few days now that our bird feeders attract a large mixed flock of winter resident birds. This juvenile Cooper’s Hawk appeared as a brown flash as he shot past the bird feeder a few feet off the ground. The juncos, sparrows, and finches foraging nearby panicked and a series of loud and sharp alarm calls accompanied them rapidly and erratically flying off in every direction. A couple of House Sparrows ended up flying behind our grill next to the house. Everyone else quickly vanished into cover. These unfortunate birds attracted the attention of the hawk. He was so fixated on these birds that I was able to slowly open our sliding glass door and take pictures of him even though he was ten feet away. He noticed me right away, but he was focused on procuring his lunch.
He was rapidly scanning his surroundings assessing the situation and I could see that he was most interested in the sparrows under the grill. He shifted his position and leaned forward slightly while he focused on the grill. He dove down in a flash and stuck his head under the grill. The sparrows responded by shooting out the other side flying just inches above the ground as they headed for the safety of cover. This is the most common outcome for Cooper’s Hawks. Most of their attempts at catching a bird fail. This is due, in part, to the risk of predation shaping songbirds into highly vigilant animals. They are typically in flocks and every bird is constantly scanning their surroundings. They do not miss much. The ones that do miss seeing a predator get eaten and the process creates strong selection pressure on predator and prey.
This process has played out over unimaginable time frames and is beyond our understanding in many ways. Watching birds in your yard opens a window to an incredibly refined and elegant high stakes dance.