From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Thu Dec 9 21:24:56 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id iBA5MPl9015715 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 9 Dec 2004 21:22:25 -0800 (PST) Received: from pop-a065d05.pas.sa.earthlink.net (pop-a065d05.pas.sa.earthlink.net [207.217.121.249]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id iBA5LJYK015661 for <[[email protected]]>; Thu, 9 Dec 2004 21:21:20 -0800 (PST) Received: from dialup-4.246.36.128.dial1.sanjose1.level3.net ([4.246.36.128]) by pop-a065d05.pas.sa.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 1CcdDR-0004Gb-00 for [[email protected]]; Thu, 09 Dec 2004 21:21:17 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v609) In-Reply-To: <000501c4de70$c4043510$6afc56d1@richardciminonb> References: <000501c4de70$c4043510$6afc56d1@richardciminonb> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Matthew Dodder <[[email protected]]> Subject: Re: [SBB] Amazing Cooper's Hawk Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 21:24:23 -0800 To: SBB <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.609) X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5b1 Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] I just have to throw this into the mix.... Before I was married, I used to live in an apartment complex off of West Meadow that had a balcony overlooking a pool. Small birds such as Mourning Doves, House Finches, House Sparrows, "crowned" Sparrows and Juncos often gathered in the shrubs surrounding the pool to feed along the edge of the fence. Sometimes there was also California Towhee. One afternoon I saw a particularly bold Towhee foraging just outside of the fence that surrounded the pool. An immature Cooper's Hawk observed him as well. An instant later I saw the Cooper's Hawk cross the pool from the large tree on the other side, pass THROUGH the fence and capture the Towhee on the ground on the other side of the fence. As if this were not amazing enough, I went out a few minutes later to inspect the brown feathers that had been strewn all over the ground and noticed that the gap between the vertical bars of the steal fence was exactly 7 inches wide! I stood there, jaw opened for quite a while pondering the skill required to fly at full speed through a 7" gap when one has a wingspan of up to 30". It is perhaps as interesting as a Sharp-shinned Hawk catching a Yellow-rumped Warbler in mid air. But that's another story. Finally, to keep this post on topic, I observed a Cooper's Hawk along the San Francisquito Creek today. It passed over the 300 block, briefly startling the Golden-crowned Sparrows feeding near the stump. The WHITE-THROATED SPARROW among them was the first to take shelter from the threat overhead. Matthew Dodder http://www.birdguy.net _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]