[mou] Cooper's Hawk in Breakfast Swoop

[Holly Peirson]

Just this minute, a Cooper's Hawk made a spectacular pass through my yard,
coming in from the east, then swooping around a tree right in front of me as
I sit here at my window, sipping mocha and writing an email this lovely,
rainy morning. It perched in a tree back on the east side of the lawn. It
apparently had not caught one of the migrant juncos, since it only stayed
for about 1/2 a minute before moving. Perhaps back to its undisclosed
location to try again! The yard is now very quiet... 

But now the crows are moving in, perhaps to harass the hawk, which must be
out of view over the house. Maybe it did catch one of the birds under the
feeder, and then took it to a perch to eat, and the crows are hoping to get
some before it's gone...

It's fun to speculate, for all but the junco, of course.

Now the crows are moving across the marsh, and there's an owl that they are
mobbing in one of the trees on the other side! What a morning it's been
already! And all in a steady rain...

So, before sending the email, the curious person in me went outside to see
if I could see anything over the house. Nothing, but the birds were all
still doing their high-pitched alarm calls. Came back in to write that the
Cooper's must be gone, and before I could write, it swooped through the yard
again, at a terrific pace!! 

So I went outside again, to see if I could find it. Must be gone now, as all
the bird calls are normal again, and the squirrels are coming out from under
the tree limbs where they were hiding... No birds back yet, but I think the
excitement is now over. The mocha is now cool, but what an interesting way
to write an email!!

Holly Peirson
Columbus, Anoka Co.