Peanuts In My Pocket

I’ve fed songbirds for years in my garden. On occasion, the dreaded murder hawk arrives to feast on my doves and sparrows. Last night, a house sparrow met its messy end. Afterward, the murder hawk took a leisurely bath in my fountain. I cleaned up the remains yesterday, but I’ll need to scrub the fountain as soon as it warms up this morning.

The murder hawk is a Cooper’s Hawk. It visits infrequently, but when it does, the birds scatter and don’t return for days. I usually find the remains of a sparrow—a one-bite meal—on the ground near my feeders. If it takes a dove, it moves to a tree in my front yard, leaving only feathers as evidence. I never find the body.

Cooper’s Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) are fairly common in my area and well-adapted to suburban environments. They’re about the size of a crow and lurk near bird feeders looking for an easy meal. Perched high on a branch or telephone pole, they dart through tree branches to ambush prey. Their diet consists mostly of small to medium-sized birds (like doves, pigeons, and songbirds), and sometimes small mammals like squirrels. I’ve yet to see one go after the enormous squirrels that plague my bird feeder, but one can hope.

At times, I’ve had to stop feeding the birds altogether to avoid a daily bloodbath. Last year was particularly bad, with the murder hawk taking two or three birds a day and even buzzing my head in the yard. This year, I’ve only seen it twice, but I’ve spotted an American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) several times. Kestrels hover in the air before diving down to snatch small birds. They’re smaller than Cooper’s Hawks but just as deadly.

I sometimes wonder: am I feeding birds, or hosting a raptor buffet?