It was the shrieking Blue Jays that captured my attention. There were three of them but they made enough noise for twelve. When I looked up into the tree it was the flock of goldfinches that surprised me the most. They were flying around the head of and jumping along branches inches away from a Cooper’s Hawk.
The hawk was perched 50 feet above me in an oak tree, and because the sun is so low in the sky this time of year it was hard to see what all the commotion was about. I used the zoom lens on my camera for a better look. Then it all made sense.
The hawk must’ve snatched a goldfinch from one of my feeders and was now defiantly lunching on it only a few yards away. The frantic finches mobbed him as he dug in.
Curiously the birds at the backyard feeders were ignoring the entire scene. There were scores of finches, cardinals and juncos feeding from hanging feeders, platform feeders and the ground. They appeared unfazed by the ruckus going on in the trees nearby.
The hawk’s belly would soon be full, so they knew they were no longer in any danger.
1 comment
How sad!
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