Greetings from woodsy Maple Grove, the new digs of me, married and with children - major shift from the last time this server heard from me.
Had to jump into this dialogue of hawk/blue jay interactions. I spent a week up north as a sort of honeymoon (actually convalescence from several months of packing, remodeling, moving, and living is a townhouse with three females after 20 some years of bachelorhood) and saw some amazing birdie interactions. First of all, I filled a huge feeder at the cabin I was staying at and within a few minutes the feeder was covered with Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches and chickadees - plus the occasional Red- bellied and Hairy Woodpeckers - plus Golden Crowned Kinglets hanging amongst the pines. Soon two huge Blue Jays intruded the space as they can so easily do. They were scarfing down the corn (primarily) and stuffing their throats with them (I would assume it would be called a "craw" in Oklahoma). After several days and hundreds of corn kernals later - I looked out and noticed the birds were all gone and only the jays remained. I figured there had to be another visitor and there in the branches over the jays was a stoic Sharp-shinned Hawk - just sitting. Then it swooped down and strafed the jays. who spread out but only to nearby branched. The hawk circles back around and assumed attack posture and strafed again - and again and again. The jays weren't exactly playing with the hawk and I didn't get the hawk was playing with the jays. It was like the hawk was probing for weaknesses. The hawk seemed either the same size as the jays or maybe even a bit smaller. It was persistent though in it's probing. It only took on one jay at a time and the other wouldn't join in to mob the hawk away. The interactions took one bird and the hawk away into the woods and the other jay followed but only as what appeared to be an observer. This occurred several times a day after this with the same sense of probing. Each time the hawk was in full attack with talons leading the charge and the jay had to move. It would not have surprised me to see the hawk feasting on a clumsy jay later in the day - although it never happened. Nice to put words to server again. I am home. Thomas Maiello Angel Environmental Management, Inc. Maple Grove, MN On Nov 1, 2007, at 4:45 PM, Joel Dunnette wrote: > Last fall I watched a Blue Jay 'playing tag' with an immature Sharp- > shinned > Hawk. Sort of like what Al describes. > Joel Dunnette > Byron > > -----Original Message----- > From: mnbird-bounces at lists.mnbird.net > [mailto:mnbird-bounces at lists.mnbird.net] On Behalf Of Pastor Al > Schirmacher > Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 9:58 AM > To: mnbird at lists.mnbird.net; mou-net at moumn.org; > BIRDCHAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU; Wisconsin Birding Network > Subject: [mnbird] Interesting behavior > > Watched a Cooper's Hawk harassing/chasing a Pileated Woodpecker > this morning > > (which was interesting enough with their size differential - have not > observed this particular mix before) - moved a bit closer to make > sure that > it was indeed a Cooper's rather than a Gos - it spooked from a > stand of > trees into a forested area - 20 seconds later, the Pileated flew > off in the > exact direction that the Cooper's had gone - they then picked up their > "game" of chase once again. > > So, what's happening here? Juvenile inexperience? Interspecies play? > Basic stupidity:)? Any thoughts? > > Al Schirmacher > Princeton, MN > Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties > > _______________________________________________ > mnbird mailing list > mnbird at lists.mnbird.net > http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird > > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.18/1104 - Release Date: > 11/1/2007 > 6:47 PM > > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.18/1104 - Release Date: > 11/1/2007 > 6:47 PM > > _______________________________________________ > mnbird mailing list > mnbird at lists.mnbird.net > http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20071101/4a24c937/attachment.html
