I swear, one day this hawk is going to land on my shoulder and nibble my ear.
Fair warning. This is a long post. Maybe too long.
For the past week or so I’ve been having almost daily close encounters with the neighborhood Cooper’s Hawk in my back yard. ‘He’ has become so acclimated to my presence in the yard he mostly ignores me, no matter how close I am.
In an effort to document as many of those encounters as I can, I’ve been keeping three different cameras attached to three different lenses on my patio table. The following photos document four of those encounters and I’ll briefly describe a fifth that I wasn’t able to document with photos. I’ve labeled each encounter as to date.
July 31:
Late in the evening I was about to walk out my back door to turn the barbecue on (in this photo the barbecue is against my house, just out of frame to the right) when I spotted him on the lower railing of my old, mostly unused and unmaintained deck. This photo was taken at only 44mm (that’s almost wide angle) from my open door while I was still inside my house – you can see the door frame on both sides of the photo.
Obviously, he was very close but he paid no attention to me. He was hunting the sparrows at my feeder (at upper left in this photo) and he was so engrossed in the hunt I could barely get him to look at me.
I got a few more photos of him while standing in my doorway, including…
a few head shots taken with my mid-focal length lens.
But after about 10 minutes I remembered I still hadn’t fired up the barbecue so I stepped out of my house and walked toward the barbecue, and him – fully expecting him to take off. But he didn’t. We were less than 8′ from each other but he was still focused on my feeder, and the sparrows that had buried themselves in my grapevine behind the feeder. He didn’t even fly off when I repeatedly used the igniter to start my barbecue, which is obnoxiously loud.
We both maintained our positions for about five more minutes, with him looking at my feeder and me pointing two different lenses at him.
Eventually he wanted a different hunting angle on the feeder so he…
flew about 6′ to the corner of my upper deck railing and hunted my feeder from there.
At one point I became concerned that his unusual accepting behavior might be a result of him crashing into the glass of my patio door while chasing a sparrow. Fearing he might be stunned or injured, I hollered at him and waved my arms but all he did was look at me once and then go back to staring at my feeder.
By now I was barbecuing dinner (ribs) so I had my back to him. Eventually, when I turned around to look at him again, he was gone.
It’s probably hard for readers to put all this in perspective so the next morning I took this photo, hoping it would help.
For most of the above series of photos I was standing in my open patio door while the hawk was perched where I’ve placed the black “X”. Toward the end he flew to the upper railing where I’ve placed the black “Y”. My barbecue is against my house, about halfway between the “X” and the open door. My feeder and grape vines are in the foreground at left.
August 2:
Soon after sunrise two days later I saw him fly into the grapevine after a sparrow. I could hear him crashing around in the vine and occasionally I saw a wing or his tail appear for a moment through the leaves as he chased prey in the vine. He came up empty, which is when he flew a few feet to the roof of a kid’s fort that my friend and neighbor Shane built for his young boy.
From here he hunted the grape vine below and in front of him for several more minutes. Once again, I was very close but he didn’t give a damn. All he cared about was finding breakfast.
I lost focus on him when he dived on the vine after a sparrow, but you get the idea. Here we have our first look at a feather on his back that he broke while chasing sparrows in the vine.
Once again, he didn’t catch a sparrow in the vine. I know that because…
he came out of the vine and landed on the roof of my storage shed, empty handed (footed). From here he flew across my yard to…
one of my Catalpa trees. Soon he flew off to hunt elsewhere.
This photo illustrates why the roof of Shane’s fort is such an excellent hunting perch for the hawk. It overlooks the grape vine behind my feeder, where the sparrows seek refuge when the hawk shows up.
August 3:
I was unable to get any photos to document this encounter, but it was so memorable for me I decided to describe it briefly.
Soon after sunrise I was sitting on my deck trying to photograph hummingbirds at my trumpet vine when I heard the sound, and felt the rush of air, from large flapping wings directly over my head. This time the Coop had approached my feeder from the south, flying very low so he could use my rose bushes as cover as he approached the feeder.
When I heard and felt the rush of air I looked up from my viewfinder just in time to see the Coop flying about 3′ over my head. He knew I was there but he just didn’t care, not when breakfast was at stake.
August 4:
I looked out my patio door and there he was again – this time closer than ever before and he already had a sparrow in his talons. To help with perspective, I’ve placed a red “X” where he was perched in my first encounter, above. When I opened my door to take these photos he looked at me for a few seconds and then went back to eating.
Eventually he took off with what was left of the sparrow and landed in one of Shane’s trees before finishing his meal.
August 5:
Late in the evening when I walked by my feeder to get something out of my shed, the Coop was on the other side of my grapevine. When he heard me close, but couldn’t see me, it spooked him so once again he flew to my Catalpa tree on the far side of my yard. He was buried in the tree but when I got my lens on him I could see that he’d caught and was eating another sparrow.
As you can imagine, I’ve become quite fond of this hawk. So fond that I’ve named him Gary. Older readers can probably guess why I chose that name.
Ron
Great encounters -with story to match. I still think you would be great on a YouTube series!! Good work – again.
Thanks for your confidence in me, Judy – but don’t hold your breath.
I LOVE this – the photos, the story. Perfect. So, just how old are those grapevines, Ron? They seem massive.
I don’t know how old they are, Nina. They were here, and already big, when I bought the house nearly 35 years ago.
Now if you could just get some shots of Gary at High Noon…😉😂😈 (The elder GC was born in Montana, so I figure that would also be a reason for the namesake.)
Yup, in Helena, Marty. That’s one of the reasons I liked him as a kid.
Great narrative, Ron. Raptors can be such interesting characters.
Thank you, Bill.
We had one stop by briefly on his/her way elsewhere. Blink and we’d have missed him/her. It isn’t raptor season here yet. That’s winter. Just have to make do with our homebody RTHA, RSHA, and OSPR.
We get more raptors here during winter too, Catherine. Usually.
Enjoyed. 😊
Good.
Very fun and entertaining! Had to expand the photos to see the black markings – a brighter color for markings is much appreciated! Your deck needs some Ron love!!! Why is it neglected? Your yard receives such TLC!!!
Kathleen, I spent quite a bit of time trying different colors for the X and Y (including bright red, yellow and blue) but none of them seemed to work very well. With that background they were all hard to see, which surprised me.
My deck is neglected because with my bad back there’s nothing I can do about it. I refinished it once but that was decades ago before my back went bad on me. With two 7″ metal rods in my back, bending I can’t do. Besides, with my huge elm tree gone, for most of the day it’s too hot on the deck so I don’t have a lot of motivation to do anything about it.
About the only time I’m on the deck is early in the morning when I’m photographing hummingbirds at my trumpet vine.
What adventures! The shot of him flying thru the railings is wonderful. They are such amazing birds!
I had a Coop in the yard the other day that I watched for about an hour – I was standing near a window and there was this huge crash and a whirr of movement. The hawk was after a mourning dove which crashed into the window and was killed by the impact. The hawk flew into a nearby spruce to recover – I worried it had also crashed into the window or been injured grabbing the dove, but I think it had missed both and was just resting from the exertion. I wondered if it would retrieve the dead dove, which was lying on the ground under the window. The hawk was an adult, more mature than yours, and just gorgeous. After about an hour, it began to get restless. I looked away for a minute, and that was when it disappeared. I went out to retrieve the dove – in the minute I wasn’t watching, the hawk had flown down to the ground, grabbed the dove and flown off. Sad for the dove, but at least Coop got lunch.
That’s quite a story, Carolyn. And isn’t that typical of the timing – they always seem to take off, or perform some other interesting action, at the moment we aren’t looking.
Not ten minutes ago, while I was sitting here at the computer, some large bird crashed into my bedroom window. It was loud enough to startle me. Went out and looked for an injured bird but didn’t find one. Thankfully.
Thrilling ! Best looks at a Cooper’s I’ve had, and I especially enjoyed
the shots that capture him in the act of firing at high speed THROUGH obstacles in hot pursuit of breakfast– it’s amazing
that he doesn’t get hurt in the process and wonderful that he seems to perceive you as an OK presence ( maybe as the maitre d’ hotel ?).
” it’s amazing that he doesn’t get hurt in the process”
I often think the same thing, Kris – especially when I can hear all that crashing around and sometimes see feathers flying.
What a great story complete with illustrations or photos in this case.
Remarkable story and hawk. It is a good thing for him that you
have come to like him and don’t have your shotgun out for him.
I have a younger brother Gary, but don’t recall the reason for
the connection.
Thanks, Everett. I can’t imagine shooting a raptor. Just the thought of it makes my blood boil.
I named him Gary after Gary Cooper. Cooper’s Hawk, ya know…
Ron, I do love these personal story vignettes!
Shooting with camera is the only thing acceptable…the thought aiming a gun on this beautiful creature is upsetting.
Thanks, Susan.
WOW! Wonderful encounters! 🙂 Even with the post the 2nd to last photo is beautiful! Glad Gary finally had some hunting success.
Good thing you don’t have a lot of hair he might mistake for breakfast…. 😉
You certainly have made the most of your yard over the years…. 🙂
“You certainly have made the most of your yard over the years.”
Thanks for noticing, Judy. I love my garden and photographing birds in my yard saves a LOT of gas.
You had me at the title. Enjoyed every photo and every word.
I have had my share of neighborhood juvenile raptor close encounters, but you and Gary take the prize. How soon before you start charging him rent or claiming him as a dependent on your taxes?
Looking forward to the next installment of Ron and Gary.
“How soon before you start charging him rent or claiming him as a dependent on your taxes?”
Ha, he gets a pass on both, Michael. Charging him rent might make him go elsewhere and I NEVER rattle the cage of the tax man.