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**John
Inman’s resident red-bellied woodpecker gave a couple of rusty
blackbirds a warning not to get too close to his food. As in the past, John is finding the red-bellied woodpeckers get quite aggressive.
(Editor’s
note: I have noted as well that my red-bellied woodpecker, although not
regular, will put the run to starlings when it arrives.)
John
also had a sharp-shinned hawk arrive to take a white-throated sparrow as
prey. It seemed pleased with its catch to cooperatively allow a photograph.
**Jane LeBlanc's sharp-shinned hawk was back on Saturday in the bitter cold. It sat in the middle of the witch hazel shrub where Jane couldn't get a good photo of it through the branches. Then the hawk made several feeble attempts (not successful) at the black-capped chickadees who were the only ones brave/foolish enough to stick around before landing back in the witch hazel, and giving Jane a nice profile shot. It flew off still hungry.
**Cathy
and Isabelle Simon report that a Cooper’s hawk has been spending a lot
of time in their front yard over the past two days. It was surprising to watch a
small flock of black-capped chickadees and an American goldfinch seem
completely unfazed by the hawk’s close presence, continuing to visit the
feeders and even perching in the same small maple tree. On three occasions, the
hawk was seen sitting on the snow in direct sunlight between a few shrubs and
even crawling underneath them. A bit of follow-up reading confirmed that
Cooper’s hawks do this for thermoregulation and to ambush prey such as mice,
squirrels, and chipmunks.
****Tony Thomas has both hairy woodpecker and downy woodpecker visiting his Fredericton suet feeder and compares the two species in one frame at the same scale to show the slight differences in spot pattern and the more obvious size differences.
(Editor’s
note: nice to see these two similar species in one frame. When thinking size,
think of the hairy woodpecker as the Harley and the downy woodpecker is the
scooter!)
**On
Saturday afternoon, Brian Stone joined Cathy Simon at the Tankville School
Trail in Irishtown for a chilly walk in the crispy snow. The wind chill was
brutal, but the determined hikers were unaffected, and they managed to finish
the trail with a few bird sightings and a few photographs. Cathy spotted a
group of six or seven female pine grosbeaks, and they got photographed along
with a male downy woodpecker. Not many tracks were seen in the loose snow,
but a small rodent trail stood out as well as a few snowshoe hare
tracks. At Cathy's home, her resident Cooper's hawk was cooperative and
perched in trees for photos before hopping down to the ground and sunning
itself between two low bushes beside her front walk.
**(Editor’s note: We have had some good images today to help differentiate the sharp-shinned hawk from the Cooper’s hawk.
The
Cooper’s hawk is indeed the larger of the two, but gender can complicate that, as
the larger female sharp-shinned hawk and the smaller male Cooper’s hawk can be
close in size.
The
dark crown and pale grey nape of the Cooper’s hawk give a capped effect, whereas
the sharp-shinned hawk lacks the grey nape to give a more hooded effect.
The
thicker legs of the Cooper’s hawk versus the more slender legs of the sharp-shinned
hawk are sometimes obvious.
The
Roman nose effect of the Cooper’s hawk is sometimes obvious.
The
two longer central feathers of the tail (rectrices) of the Cooper’s hawk can be
obvious if not in molt.
There
are other differential features, but those listed above often show as the most
obvious.
It
may also be interesting to note that the raptors in general appear to be in
stable numbers, especially after having recovered from the effects of the
pesticide DDT in the 1970's.)
Nelson Poirier
Nature Moncton
