Cooper's Killing

[Arlen]

An incessant cacophony of alarm calls broke the early morning silence, so I moved to discover the source and cause of the brouhaha.
A riot of robins were flitting nervously among the branches of a large 150-year-old juniper tree, joined by a smattering of less vocal smaller songbirds.

   



Three squirrels scolded from the uppermost branches, venturing carefully downward only to repeatedly reverse course.

   


I had still not seen the cause of all the fear and loathing. Then, moving carefully to my right, the interloper came into view.

   


This went on for quite some time, with no resolution—the noisy attackers venturing close, then retreating;
the immature Cooper’s hawk eyeing them but unimpressed by their bravado.
So I took a 20 minute break to photograph another subject.


Upon my return, it was quickly apparent that one robin had been a little too brave. In trying to repulse the predator, it had become the victim, and now the meal.


   


Such are the risks when confronting an ambush hunter like an accipiter.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Good story, Arlen - and that third shot is magnificent.

Jeremy

[Chairman Bill]

Good story, Arlen - and that third shot is magnificent.

Jeremy

Yep. What Jeremy said

[Bob_B]

The third and forth photos are great, and I too enjoyed your story.

[petermfiore]

A wonderful set, great narrative...

Peter

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Ditto to all the other comments.
The message, from the Cooper's point of view, seems to be: No need to go chasing breakfast, I can just wait until it comes to me!

[Telecaster]

A wonderful set, great narrative...

Yep!

Not entirely unrelated: the second of the two squirrels who'd lived in one of my maple trees, and who'd been trying to scrape her way into my attic beginning last mid summer, met her demise sometime yesterday afternoon. I found her lying on my patio, having evidently fallen out of the maple tree onto the slate 50+ ft. below. I could tell it was her via a distinct forehead scar. Her marauding buddy/partner must've died during the winter 'cuz I haven't seen him in months and they were nearly always together.

I dug a hole in my garden last evening and dropped her in. It was not a particularly sad occasion. 

-Dave-

[MattBurt]

Nice catch! I once had a sharp shinned hawk (very similar to cooper's) catch and eat a blackbird on the ledge outside my office window. Gruesome!

[francois]

Great shots! Not so easy to shoot through branches but you managed to nail it.
Bravo

[churly]

Great set Arlen!

[Kevin Gallagher]

 Very well captured Arlen.

 When first becoming interested in photographing birds (The Arrival Of The D1 REALLY Inspired Me), my wife & I placed several feeders with a variety of offerings in our rather small back yard. Every now and again I'd find a circle of feathers in the grass and immediately attributed if to some neighborhood cats, but one day, I happened to be glancing outside and saw a hawk doing his thing on the lawn.

[Arlen]

Your comments are all very much appreciated. I feel fortunate that I happened to be in the right place at the right time--and with a camera and adequate lens. I'm sure incidents like this are unfolding out there all the time, but usually no one is around to observe them.

The message, from the Cooper's point of view, seems to be: No need to go chasing breakfast, I can just wait until it comes to me!

That was my thought exactly, Eric, when I realized what had happened.

I dug a hole in my garden last evening and dropped her in. It was not a particularly sad occasion. 

Love the last sentence. Reminds me of a story about my brother-in-law, who years ago as a young man went to extraordinarily strange lengths to rid his attic of squirrels.

Every now and again I'd find a circle of feathers in the grass and immediately attributed if to some neighborhood cats, but one day, I happened to be glancing outside and saw a hawk doing his thing on the lawn.

Hmmm, I'm off to check my bird feeder now.

[donbga]

Good story, Arlen - and that third shot is magnificent.

Jeremy

+1.