Around noon as I was driving the roads in Bear Creek Lake Park, I
witnessed a drama involving a Black-billed Magpie, Cooper's Hawk, and
a Red-tailed Hawk.
Just ahead of me I saw a bird knock down a Magpie and land in the
middle of the road. It turned out to be a Cooper's Hawk on top of a
struggling Magpie. I watched for several minutes as the Cooper's held
down the struggling Magpie, while 10-12 Black-billed Magpies landed in
the tree above the two combatants, scolding, squacking, and creating
quite a ruckus. All of the magpies stayed in the tree 10 -15 feet
above the fray while voicing their displeasure. Then, all of a
sudden, the Cooper's loosened it's grip on the Black-billed Magpie,
which wobbled a few feet away. I fully expected the Cooper's to renew
it's attack on the magpie, but instead it flew off to the south, the
disheveled magpie wobbled up into the nearest tree, and the flock of
cackling magpies took off. BANG ... like a stealth bomber a Red-
tailed Hawk hit the magpie, turned sharply, landed on a limb in the
tree with the poor magpie in it's talons. I imagined the Red-tail
getting a better grip on the magpie the short time it was perched.
The Red-tail then took off with the magpie in tow and uttered a
typical Red-tail scream (a victory scream???) as it departed. Later
on I saw two Red-tails circling and one of the hawks (male???) still
had the magpie grasped in it's talons. Something special to witness!
Mike Henwood
Morrison
Bear Creek Lake Park
Jefferson County
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