Falcon Flight
Every morning Hubby and I have coffee outside on the patio and watch the birds at the birdfeeders. Hummingbirds and finches, mostly. Our cats sometimes get one, sometimes we have to put the cats in the house because the birds won't come to the feeders if the cats are lounging beneath them.
Anyway, this morning cats are lounging around, but not ( Read more... )
One time I was going out to fill one and a Cooper's Hawk had been chasing a pine sisken through the huge Douglas fir in our back yard. The feeder hangs from an enormous branch. The hawk came right out at me, I had inavdertently stepped in between them. I saw her inches from my face, her vicious little set of ginzu knives up and ready for the sisken. I closed my eyes (it was a reaction) and waited, hoping she wouldn't "foot" my face...I felt the tip of her longest primaries graze my cheeks ...I had seen her wings come forward in a braking position as she saw me. I opened my eyes and she had done a ninety degree turn and missed me. You probably know this but just in case...Coopers are built to hunt in the trees for birds. They have long tails for balance, so they can dodge and turn with the best of them. Now I know what it's like to see the hunter coming for you! This same bird killed a crow! The crow was as big as the Coopie. It was long and brutal and I don't want to see it again...but she did it. The other crows screamed and dive-bombed her during the whole process. She had to drag her prize into the woods on short hops. She couldn't get it into the air. She doesn't flinch from her calling. Sorry I rambled on like that! I don't get to tell that story much.
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This bird did not flap until it had gone through the cloud of little birds and needed to gain altitude.
Yes, we are in Arizona, and birdwatching becomes more exciting in the winter when the guest species come to live for a few months.
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