Saturday Afternoon Drama

I was sitting at the dining room table this afternoon working on a lace patterned knitting project that requires lots of natural light.  With 4 inches of new snow last nite, it's been a busy day at the birdfeeders right outside my window.  Without any advance warning from the bluejays, a Cooper's hawk flew in to try and catch some dinner.  It landed in the big oak tree right near all the birdfeeders.   Woodpeckers had no warning and had to "freeze" wherever they were until Cooper's finally flew away hungry again.....

This is a first year Cooper's Hawk -- you can tell that by its yellow eyes.  (Adults have dark rusty-red colored eyes).  It's cold out there, so the Coop kept one foot tucked up into its tummy feathers for warmth.

Poor little Downy Woodpecker didn't even have time to fly away and was just barely able to duck down behind the deck railing and hang on by two toes, hoping desperately that the hawk wouldn't be able to spot her.

Here's where the Cooper's hawk was perched in the tree in perspective to the Downy woodpecker on the deck railing.  Distance is approx. 10 yds.  The majority of my birdseed and suet feeders are concentrated in the area outside my dining room windows (for best photo ops!) and there are at least a dozen feeders on the deck and hanging in trees all around this big tree where the Cooper's hawk is perched.

I believe there are a nesting pair of Cooper's Hawks in our neighborhood.  I feel privileged to be able to see these birds up close.  The ratio of Coop's to songbirds is probably 1:200 in my backyard, so if they need to hunt here, that's fine by me.  I see the hawks fly into the backyard several times a day (if I'm home to watch them), but I believe the majority of times they fly away without ever catching anything. 

Looking Back on 2014

I got a gentle "scolding" from a friend recently who's been missing my blog posts. So I decided I'd get one more in before the end of 2014. Working two and three jobs for the last few years has pretty much kicked my ass to the curb and left me with neither the energy or initiative to devote to weekly (or even monthly) blog posts. But for those of you not on Facebook or also missing my blog posts, I'll recap my 2014 with one picture for each month of 2014.

A beautiful January sunset

A February snowstorm was beautiful only to those who didn't have to worry about moving all the snow or figuring out how to drive in it! 

In March I took a trip to California to visit my brother.  It was nice to see green grass, water that wasn't frozen, and birds that wouldn't be back to Minnesota for a couple months yet.

April brought a few spring birds back to Minnesota, including this Robin who was determined to battle that "other" robin taunting him from the window reflection.

In May the colorful summer birds finally arrived.  They're the hope we hold in our thoughts and hearts during the long Minnesota winter.

Backyard critters enjoying June clover and other treats falling from the birdfeeder above.

A long July weekend in northern Minnesota gave me the opportunity to photograph this rainbow over Snowbank Lake after a brief late afternoon thunderstorm.

 

Thankfully we saw more Monarch butterflies this summer than last year.  An August Monarch took advantage of the Rough Blazing Star blooming in my backyard wildflower garden.

In September, this first year Cooper's Hawk was trying its best to catch one of the birds hanging out on my deck.  Unfortunately, no birds were caught, but I did get the chance to capture this awesome photo!

Fall colors delighted the senses in October.

Early one morning in November, this small buck showed up in the backyard to sample some of the corn we put out for birds and bunnies.



Happy Christmas from me and my pretty girl Holly the Pibble!

Raptor Spa

For a lot of people with backyard bird feeders, the appearance of a hawk is a horrifying experience.  For me, the appearance of a hawk is always greeted with excitement.  The ratio of hawks to songbirds in my backyard is probably about 1:150, so I'm not worried about the hawks decimating my songbirds (the free-roaming cats and raccoons cause much more damage).  I know there is a Cooper's Hawk who visits my backyard regularly and usually the chickadees, robins and bluejays sound the alarm.  This time of year, the grackles are especially watchful because they have all kinds of nests around here and I've found several piles of juvenile grackle feathers lately (not gonna complain about losing a few grackle babies, that's for sure!)

Since the weather's been so hot already this summer, keeping the birdbaths full is almost a full-time job and on this 90+ degree day back on June 10th, a Cooper's Hawk decided to take advantage of a shallow birdbath in my backyard for a little spa session.  Fortunately I was home on this day and managed to capture these photos out the kitchen window.  Hope you enjoy them!

Hope you're enjoying your summer and be sure to keep your birdbaths full during these hot days for all of the backyard critters and birds -- raptors included!

Backyard Cooper's Hawk

I was just finishing supper this evening and happened to look out the dining room window and spotted this beautiful Cooper's Hawk perched on the ground feeding tray. Cool!

It sat there for ages......long enough for me to grab the camera and sneak downstairs to the patio door to take all these pictures.

When no sparrows showed up at the ground feeder tray, the Coop turned around on the tray and looked towards the house. Doesn't it look like it's thinking, "Hmmmm, maybe there's some tasty prey lurking under that deck."

I was surprised as heck to see this Coop hop off the tray and start running towards me.

Did she say running? Yeah, I couldn't believe it either! Here's an action shot in mid-stride.

Still don't believe me? Well, I got a little video clip too! This Coop was probably only about 5-6 yards away from the house. It must have seen something interesting under the deck that was worth running for rather than flying. Isn't it cool to see this raptor up close? Looking all around in search of something to eat?

I never did see it catch anything, and it finally gave up and flew back out into the yard again. It perched on the trail camera for several minutes before finally departing from the backyard to search for a meal elsewhere.

This was definitely one of my most memorable raptor encounters in the backyard and I'm so glad I was able to photograph it. I hope this Cooper's Hawk continues to visit my backyard......I have a ginormous flock of house sparrows that definitely needs thinning!