I have the same routine that I go through every single morning. As soon as I come downstairs, I take care of “my birds.” For those of you who have been “with me” for a while, you know that since our sweet 16 1/2 year old puppy left us, I have taken up feeding the birds in our back yard. (Just call me “the crazy bird lady”!!!)
This morning, right after I finished filling the bird feeders, cleaning/filling the bird baths, and tossing the first (of several) handfuls of raw peanuts on the ground, I came back in to get on with my daily routine. As I was getting my first cup of coffee, I heard a ruckus of Blue Jays outside. For those of you who don’t know – Blue Jays are loud!
I looked out and was absolutely shocked to see a Cooper’s Hawk in our yard. In the twenty years we have lived in this house, I have seen a couple of hawks flying over head, but never (and I mean never) seen one land. And this one was in our yard!
However, this morning this hawk had not only landed in our yard, he was enjoying a hearty breakfast >>> I was absolutely floored to see him… and a few blue feathers laying by him. Right here in our residential neighborhood, where we all have approximately the same tiny-size cookie cutter lots!
My husband and I decided that since the hawk had already “done the damage,” we should just leave him alone – to avoid getting vultures in the yard later. Once the hawk was finished, he just stood there for quite a while. He looked like a different bird… He was so… “full” that he actually looked like he was shaped like a duck!
According to our trusty Bird’s of Texas Field Guide (by Stan Tekiela): “This hawk will come to feeders, hunting for unaware birds.” While he was standing there for such a long time, I was hoping that he wasn’t making a mental note of our address!
