Waited over a week for this one to come back

[awp101]

Waited a week or so for this guy(?) to come back. I think it's a Cooper's Hawk:
Hawk 1 12JUL15 by awp101, on Flickr
Hawk 2 12JUL15 by awp101, on Flickr
Hawk 3 12JUL15 by awp101, on FlickrHawk 4 12JUL15 by awp101, on Flickr
Hawk 5 12JUL15 by awp101, on Flickr

It wasn't real happy about the handle on the umbrella cover flapping in the wind but it was intrigued
Hawk 6 12JUL15 by awp101, on FlickrHawk 7 12JUL15 by awp101, on Flickr

Hawk 8 12JUL15 by awp101, on Flickr

I've seen this one and another the past month or so, I'm hoping they have a nest around here. I had to shoot through the glass in the back door. Luckily Hank E. Dog was asleep or he would have thrown an absolute fit to get out there and shoo it away from his pool.

[magnumwheelman]

nice pics... we have mostly Red Tails around here... but we do see a few of the smaller ( & more colorful ) Sparrow hawks... wish I had the photography skills

[jdoc]

Great pics. I would say you have an immature Cooper's Hawk or two. We have one or more that hangs around the neighborhood, eastern Jackson County, Missouri. Part of the time it/they pick off birds from my neighbor's bird bath and feeder. Great to watch.

[cmh]

I work at Allison Transmission in Indy and the DNR released some bald eagles in the area and a pair is nested right across the street on eagle creek. I spend my breaks and lunch everyday sitting out there on my cart watching them.....

[Markbo]

Very cool. We got home one day abd there was a vulture in my fro t yard eating a squirrel it had taken out of the street. We were super close so we stopped to watch when out of nowhere a red tailed hawk swooped in, wings all flared out and screeching and stole it from the vulture! Like wild kingdom right in the suburbs. That poor vulture sat there looking around wondering what just happened.

[awp101]

Thanks guys, it's been fun to watch. I almost got more pics yesterday afternoon but "he" got spooked off twice when Hank saw him before I got the camera ready. Looking around the tree it was in, I saw a dead squirrel that was gone the next time I went out back. It appears it's comfortable enough to bring dinner to our trees so maybe that's something I can work with in the future.

Doing some reading on the Cooper's Hawk (aka Chicken Hawk), the females are larger than the males and the males are submissive. The males will also call out to the females wanting the reassurance of their response. That came from that wonderfully infallible resource *cough hack wheeze BS cough hack wheeze* called Wikipedia but it does seem to match what I've seen out of the two in the neighborhood. I thought it was a parent and young adult but they could very well be mates.

jdoc, I found a picture in my searches that showed one drowning a sparrow (or some other kind of small bird) in a puddle. Does "yours" do that or is it a snatch and grab?

cmh, that's cool!

Jul 14, 2015 14:49:24 GMT -5 Markbo said:

Very cool. We got home one day abd there was a vulture in my fro t yard eating a squirrel it had taken out of the street. We were super close so we stopped to watch when out of nowhere a red tailed hawk swooped in, wings all flared out and screeching and stole it from the vulture! Like wild kingdom right in the suburbs. That poor vulture sat there looking around wondering what just happened.

We leave a pool out year round for Hank even though he's not an outside dog anymore. Back in 2010 or 2011 when we had a real hot summer with something like 20+ days of 100*F or more Hank went ballistic wanting out one morning. As I opened the door and he bolted out I saw a huge vulture drinking from his pool. I kept thinking "Please don't catch it, I don't have a pistol handy enough!" After a wet spring we had bats flying a racetrack between two streetlights eating the flying bugs. That was pretty cool. For a couple of years there was a fox that I'd see at dusk or after dark in the street lights. And we're almost in the middle of the DFW area. Suburban Wild Kingdom indeed!

Jul 14, 2015 5:48:48 GMT -5 magnumwheelman said:

wish I had the photography skills

Thanks, but I think it's more idiot savant and "trigger" time than skill. I tell people I'm a picture taker. "Photographer" implies I know what I'm doing!

[James]

That`s the perfect "next door neighbor".....