Today I had a Sharp-shinned Hawk sitting on my back fence - and from my kitchen window I tried to take a picture only to have it fly off as soon as I raised the camera. "It'll come back" I said to myself and it did only to sit on the fence in the next yard with its back to me. By the time I walked out the side door and got to the back corner of the house he was gone. "It'll come back" I said again to myself and about ten minutes later there he sat on the cables in the alley.I grabbed my camera and made my way out to the back of the yard (no he didn't fly off) - I opened the gate that led to the alley (no he didn't fly off). I walked to the back corner of my fence and then preceded to walk to the end of my neighbors fence and "no he didn't fly off".
O
n one of the posts happen to be two squirrels chasing one another - than the biggest of the two decided to take a walk on the wire - towards the hawk. I watched in amazement this squirrel and this very patient hawk (or very stunned hawk). The squirrel got within a foot of the hawk and then the hawk made its move. All it did was stomp its talons (more or less). The squirrel moved its way towards the pole and then decided to come back for a second go. In the middle of his dare he did manage to stop and chatter with a few squirrels that were in the yard in front or back of him (which ever way you look at him) while this hawk kept looking at him I'm sure wondering what this squirrel was trying to do or prove.
n one of the posts happen to be two squirrels chasing one another - than the biggest of the two decided to take a walk on the wire - towards the hawk. I watched in amazement this squirrel and this very patient hawk (or very stunned hawk). The squirrel got within a foot of the hawk and then the hawk made its move. All it did was stomp its talons (more or less). The squirrel moved its way towards the pole and then decided to come back for a second go. In the middle of his dare he did manage to stop and chatter with a few squirrels that were in the yard in front or back of him (which ever way you look at him) while this hawk kept looking at him I'm sure wondering what this squirrel was trying to do or prove.
In his last challenge this squirrel moved in and out over the cables and decided to sit just below the hawk (approximately another foot away). Yes - the hawk did look at him like he was nuts but obviously this squirrel knew something that I didn't. A Downy Woodpecker landed on a wire just above the Hawk (yes the hawk looked up) and the squirrel made his way back to the pole and down and then was gone.I guess a sitting still Hawk is no threat to a squirrel, maybe the Hawk needed height to attack, maybe the squirrel was too big for the Hawk or maybe it was the squirrels lucky day. Til my next post.
6 comments:
Great post, Pat! Dumb squirrels...
Sharpies preferred meal is a songbird or sparrow, not squirrels; it probably had no idea how to catch a squirrel up close like that! Fascinating photos!
Just great pictures!
Wow! This is neat. Really enjoyed this post.
Wow! This is neat. Really enjoyed this post.
Post a Comment