Who ate my sparrow? (photos)

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Wednesday, December 31. 2008

Who ate my sparrow? (photos)

From my window, this afternoon:

More photos of this happy bird below the fold.

Editor: Darn nice pics, Gwynnie. Given his hunting success around your bird-feeder, he'll be back often. My diagnosis is in the comments, so folks can make their own minds up first.

Posted by Gwynnie in Natural History and Conservation, Our Essays at 18:45 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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I believe it's a Sharpie, not a Coopers. Why? Shortish neck, mainly.

However, I always have trouble with these two.

Both accipters like to hit small birds around bird feeders, as our readers know. It creates great excitement for a moment.

#1 Bird Dog on 2008-12-31 21:41 (Reply)

So, let's all put up birdfeeders by way of decoy and watch natural cruelty in action and optivision or whatever . . . why not head for Gaza and see the real thing!

#1.1 Dr. Krullebol on 2008-12-31 23:37 (Reply)

Oh my, Dr. K! Cruelty? Have we gone so softy that the entire world of carnivores meets with your moral disapproval? Is a carnivore capable of "cruelty"? Or is this the vision of a TV-captive world which thinks hamburgers are born in plastic packages somewhere and have nothing to do with living, breathing steers (castrated bulls)?

How hard is it for us, even hardened old me, to remember that this is Nature's design - herbivores, carnivores and omnivores (like thee and me). Indeed, Acts 10:9-13 says:
About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'"

Not surprisingly, Nature's plan turns out to be God's plan too!

#1.1.1 Kondratieff on 2009-01-02 12:07 (Reply)

this is hard,but i think it looks like rounded tail,in the 1 pic-i say coopers!

#1.2 tim white on 2009-01-01 15:06 (Reply)

I should add that, by the large size (and by the plumage), I'd guess a mature female Sharpie.

I'd welcome arguments re the Cooper's possibility.

#2 Bird Dog on 2008-12-31 22:05 (Reply)

Great pix, Gwynnie! I can never get so close. Haven't a clue what kind it is, but am in awe that you got those shots. The detail of the feathers and everything all pink. Wow! (we can't have a birdfeeder as our cat is such an efficient killing machine that it would be cruel to lure them to their deaths). Sent BD one dark one I got of a redtail eating a mole in a tree that we saw on an early evening walk this fall.

#3 retriever (Link) on 2008-12-31 22:41 (Reply)

Here in the Central Highlands (real name) of Ohio, we have a red-tailed hawk that hunts mourning doves at our bird feeder. Really impressive thump to the ground when he/she strikes.

#4 Bob Sykes on 2009-01-01 07:19 (Reply)

We have a hawk in the mountains that makes the most amazing squealing sound when it dives--anyone know what that sound is?

#5 apple pie on 2009-01-01 07:31 (Reply)

I would say Coopers hawk for the following field marks:

Head is large relative to body.
Barrel shaped - chest and hips approx equal
Dark cap
Raised feathers on the back of neck

but I could be wrong.

#6 lonetown on 2009-01-01 09:10 (Reply)

I've had a Sharpie visit my feeders for the past two years and have some dandy photos taken by my son.
Sharpies have a square tail and Coopers have a rounded tail.
The eye color on my son's pics is yellow, otherwise the birds look identical.
Awesome catch, BTW.

#7 Straight8 on 2009-01-01 09:55 (Reply)

We have decided it is a sharpie as what the photos don't really show is scale, and it seems to have been smaller than the 16" that Sibley tells us for a Coopers. There is an interesting narrow dark collar at the base of the neck, but Sibley shows for neither, and we can't find our Hoffman guide with its computer-enhanced photos.

#8 Gwynne on 2009-01-02 10:38 (Reply)

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Wednesday, December 31. 2008

Who ate my sparrow? (photos)