The Backyard & Beyond  - March 2004

I had dinner at the Olive Garden with friends one night recently and as always I brought home my leftovers. So the next day I decided to have a relaxing lunch and sit in front of the bay window in the bedroom and enjoy my meal with a small glass of wine and "watch birds". But there weren't any birds in sight. A few minutes later a Townsend's Warbler showed up to either get a bite of suet or a sip of the hummingbird sugar water but didn't stay long enough for either. I ate and waited.

I didn't have to wait long when I saw out of the corner of my eye what I thought to be a Band-tailed Pigeon flying in to the sunflower chip feeder on the side of the house. But the bird took a quick twisted turn and headed down to the hardy fuchsia bush next to the pond. I saw a small bird moving around and it was at this point that I realized this was no pigeon.

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Indeed! it was no pigeon. This was a Cooper's Hawk and he grabbed the little bird. I believe it was a junco that made the wrong decision and ended up being the Cooper's lunch. I cringed as I watched this episode unfold. "Murder at Lunch" is what I called it and wasn't exactly what I had in mind being a vegetarian. A couple days later I saw the Cooper's eating again and think that one might have been a Bushtit although I can't figure out why he would take something so small.

  After the ice storm, we trimmed the flowering plum tree and had a huge pile of branches on the lawn in the backyard. The sparrows, towhees, juncos and all loved it. They could dash in and out and they obviously felt (and were) very safe from Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks. I looked out the kitchen window and to my surprise there was a Cooper's Hawk jumping up and down and dancing on the top of the pile. He was trying to drive out one of the little birds using it for protection. They stayed put and I forgot to get the camera!!!