I’ve always tried to resist the temptation to assign pet names to wild birds because to me it seems disrespectful of their wildness. But I sometimes make exceptions for distinctive birds that visit my yard regularly if I can identify them as individuals. I do it largely because it makes it easier, quicker and less cumbersome to identify a specific bird, especially in conversations with others who are familiar with the same distinctive bird – like my friends and neighbors Shane and Kimmy Smith who know many of the same birds I do.
Currently the regularly returning yard birds I’ve named include a unique leucistic Red-winged Blackbird that I call Luke and the only adult male Yellow-headed Blackbird that visits my yard. I call him Dandy, short for dandelion.
This is the neighborhood not quite mature Cooper’s Hawk that has visited my yard regularly for going on two years now (I’ve posted this photo before). Based on his size and behavior I believe he’s a male. This spring he’s been visiting my yard at least once every day to hunt songbirds at my feeders.
His ambush skills are superb so I’ve named him Hannibal after Hannibal the Great, who famously crossed the Alps with war elephants to ambush the Romans. (I didn’t name him after Hannibal Lecter. I’m sure “my” Hannibal eats bird livers but I’m just as sure that he doesn’t accompany them with “fava beans and a nice chianti”.)
As far as I knew, Hannibal was the only Cooper’s Hawk in the neighborhood but about two weeks ago I was in for a surprise. I was sitting on my patio, sans camera, when Hannibal swooped in and landed on my back fence – followed immediately by a mature Cooper’s Hawk hot on his tail. For about five seconds they appeared to be playing with each other and then they left together. That was the first time I’d seen the adult hawk in my yard.
The second hawk is significantly larger than Hannibal so I believe it’s a female. And Hannibal may now be old enough to breed so I have to wonder if they’ve paired up.
May 9:
Then nine days ago, my birthday, she showed up again and landed on my feeder pole. When she came in, all the songbirds took refuge in my grapevine which is right behind the pole. Here she seems to be daring them to come back to one of the two feeders that are only inches below her. Needless to say, none of them did.
May 11:
Then for a few days Hannibal was the only Cooper’s Hawk that I saw in my yard and even though he’s become used to me, he wasn’t very cooperative.
May 12:
The next day I nearly caught him bathing in my bird bath but “nearly” doesn’t get the job done.
May 13:
The day after that, while I was sitting on my patio, Hannibal landed in my nearly leafless (thanks to a brutal frost in April) catalpa tree but from my vantage point he was largely hidden by twigs and last year’s seed pods. But he allowed me to “sneak” across my lawn while dragging my tripod, camera gear and a chair, to a spot where…
I had a clearer look at him. We were under a severe thunderstorm watch at the time so it was cloudy and windy. Those leaves in the tree behind him were blowing around so much it made me a little dizzy through the viewfinder. But Hannibal didn’t seem to mind. I took hundreds of photos of him for 18 minutes before he flew off.
May 14:
And guess who showed up the next day – the adult female. She landed on my grapevine before hopping onto…
the same feeder pole that she’d been on a few days earlier. I’ve seen her in my yard several times before and since then without getting photos.
At this point it looked like she’d be around for a while, so I felt it was appropriate to give her a name. I’ve named her Annabelle.
Hannibal and Annabelle – for my sensibilities that combination has a ring to it.
Ron
PS – We’re under a three day (night) frost watch, again. After all the frost damage last month I decided to not take any chances so…
this is what the right half of my garden looks like right now (photo taken last evening). I’ve covered everything but the frost hardy plants.
This is what the left half of my garden looks like. I covered the foreground geraniums after this photo was taken. It’s going to be a lot of work to keep this up for three days while removing all the covers during the daytime but not as much work as replanting most of the garden.
Even my kitchen table is part of the project. Damn frost.
Loved these shots. Had the pleasure of watching a young Cooper’s try to catch a quail. Hawk was so intent on the quail that he went into some bushes. All you could see was a fluffy butt.
Beautiful photos of the hawks. I always look forward to updates on your birds, near or far.
Thanks, Judy.
It never ceases to amaze me, the differences between areas. Gardeners here already are harvesting sweet corn, green beans, and peaches are beginning to appear in the markets. If I could send you some of our warmth and rain, I would.
I love the birds’ names. I’m old enough to have been made to memorize Poe’s “Annabel Lee” in school, and a couple of lines seem appropriate (despite the quite different subjects):
“For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee”
Shoreacres, I’m embarrassed to admit that I’d never heard of “Annabel Lee” (the poem) before I published this post. So I just now read it and did some research on it. Better late than never…
That’s how I feel about all the knowledge I’ve gained here about birds: better late than never!
❤️
I know the frost is bad, but we are getting snow in my neck of the woods. No garden, but had to move a few flowers under cover. This weather has been nasty since Oct. Most of time strong cold winds. Guess weather is better here then in most parts of the country. Maybe you will have have a little family of Cooper Hawks in the area.
Trudy, we’ve had snow this late in May before but thankfully it’s a rare event. Frost this late is bad enough.
Cooper’s Hawk in a bird bath! What an image!
thank you for the story, and good luck with your veggie babies,
Laura
Thank you, Laura.
Great picture as always. And a heck of an effort on you garden so far. Looks like it’ll be epic!!! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Travis. I hope you’re right about the garden but the way things are going so far this year, I dunno…
Annabelle is beautiful! I’ve always loved that name, ever since reading the Edgar Allan Poe poem. That birdbath shot made me laugh.
“That birdbath shot made me laugh.”
Evelyn, I laugh at it now too but I didn’t laugh when it happened.
What fun with the hawks! 🙂 Not so much with the frost…..Memorial Day is generally considered “safe” here BUT not always true. I agree, the resident birds DO need names…….:) We have another hard freeze on “maybe” for tonight. Everything survived the last one so here’s hoping……… 😉 We have managed to get about 1.5″ of moisture the past 3 weeks – we’ll take it!
Thanks, Judy. Congrats on the moisture. When we lived on the MT farm we thought 1.5″ in that amount of time was pretty darn good.
I enjoyed your Coopers Hawk and Gardening Posts very much. Your photography is wonderful.
I’m looking forward to your next string of Posts.
Thanks, Janet. Welcome to Feathered Photography.
Nothing like a May-December raptor romance to liven up the day! ❤️ They’re beautiful birds, the names are perfect, and they seem like a well-suited pair so perhaps you’ll see fledglings someday? I’ll just hope they don’t do too much damage to your songbird population!
And Happy (belated) Birthday, Ron — may the coming year (and weather) treat you, your garden and all your feathered friends kindly! 😊
“Nothing like a May-December raptor romance to liven up the day!”
If that’s what it is, Chris. And I very much hope that it is.
I’m OK if they take a few of “my” birds. I just hope they’re mostly starlings and they leave Luke and Dandy alone.
Enjoyed the post. Sorry you are having to work so hard to protect your garden — but as you said — worse to start over. Take care.
Thanks, Laurie.
Happy Birthday.
Those two Coops make a real handsome couple. I suppose the other feathered neighbors are not so happy about this new arrival.
It is real fun to read about the goings on at your place. Kind of an avian news from Lake Wobegon. Keep it coming.
“Kind of an avian news from Lake Wobegon.”
I loved that, Michael. Inspires me to keep on keeping on.
👍
Glad you got a special bird-day present from the local wildlife. 💜 Annabelle is quite the lovely lady. I really hope they (yes, I went to THAT Hannibal — f-f-f-f-f 😉) have a successful breeding season.
Hope you can save your garden and that you get some better-late-than-never snow in the mountains. Let’s hear it for giant Ibuprofens!
“yes, I went to THAT Hannibal”
I figured some readers would, Marty. Ahh, the power of mass media. And a strong, memorable character.
I have stronger prescription ibuprofen but haven’t resorted to using it, yet.
Wonderful! I hope the frost is fleeting.
Love the birdbath shot, heh!
Thanks, Kathryn.
Loved all this story and action, Ron, but I’m sorry you have to go through the garden hassle. Still, I hope you get a bit more snow in the mountains, which I know you sorely need. Thanks as always for the photos.
Thank you, Ellen. We sorely need every drop of moisture we can get. Nature can’t produce it as fast as our politicians waste it.
Nice to hear from you again Ron. It’s been a while since you made a post I was hoping your back hasn’t laid you up.
Thanks, Steven. Ibuprofen is still keeping me in the game, at least for now.
So happy to see you on my dock this morning ! I loved the image of Annabelle on the feeder hook– 2 such graceful curves, echoing each other…..Also the soft light on your kitchen table would appeal to a Dutch master painter– is that a north-facing window behind it ? we
got an inch of snow in Cedar City last night– the poor thirsty trees
are jumping for joy !
No, that window faces east Kris. But there are bigger windows (actually a door with windows) on the left, which does face north.
Congrats on your snow last night. We had rain but proably not much. Haven’t checked my rain gauge yet.
Very enjoyable stories this morning. As for the frost, you’d think we’d know to expect this kind of weather around our birthdays, given the number of times we slogged out to Lagoon (fortified by frozen daiquiris) in May during a snowstorm and sat freezing on that patio trying to avoid the raw chicken! Good times!
Thanks, Sue. In my 18 years at South High School I think I only actually went into Lagoon twice, or three times at the most. Usually I just drove through the parking lot to check in with Blackhurst and then drove home, without ever getting out of my vehicle. I hated that place.
Beautiful, love your yard and garden! Unfortunately my garden days are over, will be 90 in 40 days, just not up to it anymore.
Good to “see” you again, Dick. I’ll probably be feeling like I’m 90 when these three days of potential frost are over.
A very early happy 90th, Dick! VBG! 🥳😃
Fun series Ron. Instead of Hannibal I would have gone with
your descriptive word “Ambush”. Those Coopers relay on their
outstanding ambush abilities.
Thanks, Everett.
Wonderful series Ron. I especially love your birthday photo of Annabelle on the feeder pole. What a beautiful hawk and pose. Good luck with the frost. Hope this will be the last you have to worry about it this spring.
“Hope this will be the last you have to worry about it this spring.”
I hope so too, Mark. I’m getting sick of it.
Great series! and belated Happy Birthday!! Hope all your gardening efforts are appropriately rewarded – up here in Ottawa we don’t plant anything until now where it just went from freezing to hot in two days.
Thanks, Burrdoo. Looking out my window I see that the wind knocked over several of my plant covers during the night. I may have some surprises when I go out and investigate.
Your stories are always interesting – with photos to go with. You could write a book!! Beautiful birds – and your garden will be beautiful too – so worth all the work.
My peaches and cherries all froze. When my citrus trees were small, I covered all 9 of them with sheets (purchased at the Mesa DI) – and had the energy to do that every night that we had freeze warnings! Up here – I don’t have that much energy for just 5 trees – and knowing that the grass hoppers will get them anyway – makes it easier to let it go. Hope you are feeling better. Keep up the good work!
I’m glad you enjoy my stories, Judy.
My roses, trumpet vine, grape vine and four catalpa trees are only now beginning to recover from April’s hard frost.