We've had a Red-shouldered Hawk visiting our backyard recently too. And we
noticed the very same thing. We have Coopers and Sharpies pretty often and
just like you we've noticed that the small birds notice right away and leave
almost instantly. But when the Red-shouldered flies in and perches right
near the feeders, the small birds seem to take almost no notice.
Here are a couple pictures I got of our visiting Red-shouldered Hawk:
http://www.pbase.com/allen_hart/image/120415820
http://www.pbase.com/allen_hart/image/120601055
--allen hart
--Herndon, VA
On Mon, Dec 28, 2009 at 3:46 PM, Roger Mayhorn <rmayhorn@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
This morning one of our resident Red-shouldered Hawks flew across the
backyard and landed in a tree about 25 ft up and only about 30 feet from the
feeders. At the time there were 12 - 14 Cardinals feeding at the feeders
along with goldfinches, downies, nuthatches and titmice. Normally when a
Cooper's or a Sharp-shinned comes into the yard the birds are gone
instantly. This time only two birds flew away from the feeder. The others
continued to feed very calmly. A Mourning Dove was sitting on the top of the
platform feeder and didn't even bother to move. It was not "frozen" in place
as some birds are when a hawk appears. The hawk sat on the branch for
a couple of minutes before flying to another nearby perch. It sat there for
about 15 minutes and the smaller birds never stopped feeding. I have noticed
this behavior before. Even though I have heard of Red-shouldered Hawks
killing birds, I have never seen one of these even make an attempt at the
birds in the area. The smaller passerines seem to understand that this hawk
is not a threat to them. Very interesting behavior.
Anyone have any comment to add?
Roger Mayhorn
Compton Mt
Buchanan County
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