When I got home from the grocery store this afternoon, standing on the grass next to some bushes in front of my apartment complex (about 4 feet from where I stopped walking when I saw him) was a first-year accipiter (either a sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawk). We looked at each for a few moments, then he flew away. I simply cannot tell whether he was more like 11" (sharp-shinned) or 16" (Cooper's) in length, nor did I see any other distinguishing features - I was too mind-boggled by seeing this hawk so close up that I didn't do a good job of seeing him. Because of the sitting on the ground behavior, and the white breast with brown stripes (albeit in the wrong direction), he reminded me of a burrowing owl (which he is
not).
Robert's suggestion is that the hawk had gone after a house sparrow and missed, and that I had seen him on the ground while he recovered. That sounds pretty reasonable to me. In any case, I appreciated the opportunity to be dumbfounded by a handsome hawk on a grey winter afternoon.
He looked something like this sharp-shinned.
3 comments:
Hey, I was thrilled to see all the usual suspects at the bird feeders today, but no hawks. There was a very enterprising gray squirrel, though. He made it all the way to the top of one of the bird feeder poles.
He looks cute but fierce, like a karate child in a manga.
Yep, if we were about 6" long, he'd happily tear us limb from limb and eat us alive, the little sweetie.
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