In the pine trees behind my house, there lives a family of Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii), the terrors of the neighborhood. All day long, hawks swoop about the house. Recently, three chicks have fledged (started flying) and their mother's been trying to teach them how to hunt. The roughly teen-aged Cooper's Hawks are a bit incompetent when it comes to hunting. One of them, for instance, apparently believes in running on foot after the squirrels is the way to hunt. Thus, earlier this morning, I watched this particular bird chase a squirrel all the way across my neighbor's front yard... on foot only. Of course, the squirrel got away.
At the same time, the local Gray Squirrels have also produced a litter of young squirrels, who are just starting to get a little territorial. As a result, we have the parental hawks chasing the younger hawks chasing some of the male squirrels chasing the other squirrels. Today, for instance, three of the hawks were lined up on the fence, and two squirrels chased each other across the middle of the yard. As if on cue, two of the young hawks swooped down after the squirrels. The squirrels scattered and ran for it, hiding under our deck. The hawks stood around for awhile on our back deck railing and steps, but eventually flew off.
The weather's been a bit too warm to get outside comfortably, but thanks to the Cooper's Hawks and squirrels, there's been plenty of nature. For once, it's in my own backyard!
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