Ton's of hawks in the suburbs

[dragoncjo]

So far this winter I have seen a ton of hawks within the trees on my block. I live in haddonfield and for years I have never seen hawks in trees in my backyard. I have seen them fly over but only from great distances. So far this winter I have seen two american kestrels, a pair of red tails, and a pair of cooper's hawks. These hawks over the last month are almost common to see around my backyard and they have been spotted on dozens of occasions. I know red tails are common, but aren't cooper's and amerian kestrel relatively uncommon to see in a the suburbs of south jersey. I have little woods near my house and the only reason I think I'm seeing them more is because I recently put in a large pond in my backyard, and everyone has bird feeders in their backyard. The cooper's are quite interesting to watch because they fly very low through the trees. I'm use to seeing hawks fly higher overhead, but these guys stay very low. I'm positive they are cooper's they are to big to be sharp-shinned hawks and have a rounded tail like a cooper's hawk. Just wondering if cooper's are found in suburbs, I didn't think they were??

 

[BEHR655]

It seems these days anything is possible. I too see more and more birds that I did not used to see around Merchantville.

Steve

 

[Teegate]

So far this winter I have seen a ton of hawks within the trees on my block.

I live right near you and I see them also. We also hear an owl all the time. Along with the red fox nature is improving around here.

Guy

 

[uuglypher]

... but aren't cooper's and amerian kestrel relatively uncommon to see in a the suburbs of south jersey.... Just wondering if cooper's are found in suburbs, I didn't think they were??

Yeah, I agree that kestrels and Cooper's wouldn't routinely be expected in the suburbs - but during migration all bets are off !
A few years ago I as visiting in-laws in the suburbs of Syracuse,NY and they are avid bird feeders. They had boucoup lbj's -hundreds 'n' hundreds of 'em - at their 8 - 10 feeders - and there always was a sharp-shinned or Cooper's sitting still in some nearby tree or bush waiting to make a mad dash into the gathered lbj's - which they did several times a day when it was deep cold and there was snow cover and the lbj's had to be at the feeders or die.

The kestrels generally liked the more open suburbs and kept an eye out for snow plows and folks shoveling out sidewalks and driveways. The plowing and shoveling would set the mice and voles moving in and out of their tunnels under the snow and the kestrels were there to take advantage of the exposed smorgasbord. Used to see the same thing (with kestrels) in Central Park when I lived in NYC.

Dave

 

[dragoncjo]

Haven't seen the kestrel's as much as the other two. I never realized how small they are only the size of a robin. I saw him overlooking any area which is by an outdoor animal enclosure, which always has small rodents which live under it.

Guy, have you seen the cooper's or just red tails, where in h-field do you live I live just off warwick near tavistock cc. Sometimes I wonder if this is a bad thing that I'm seeing all this wildlife around my house. It seems like maybe all the development is pushing them out to the suburbs. But I certainly like seeing the foxes, hawks, etc.
Chris

 

[Teegate]

I don't know the difference between them so I can't tell you. I do know they are vicious when bothered as I witnessed when multiple crows were chasing one in my front yard, and it turned on the crow and killed it in mid air. The crow crashed to the ground just 20 feet from us with a thud. My kids and I were amazed how fast it was able to attack that crow, and I would not want to tangle with one.

Guy

 

[dragoncjo]

Thanks to a shoulder injury I have been unable to work therefore I have been spending lots of time in my backyard. So far this winter I have recorded the following hawk totals, 6 sharp-shinned(didn't think they stayed here in the winter), too many to count red tails(at least one a day), 10 cooper's hawks, and two american kestrel's. This is probably triple how many hawks I have seen in all the previous winters combined, and I'm not really in to birding, just outside doing work and keep seeing them. The cooper's are especially unusual since they are endangered in new jersey. Also what kind of cameras do you guys use that get so close? I just bought a canon rebel it performance is incredible for close ups, but provides very little zoom capibility. Also is there any point in reporting to the fish and wildlife when you see endangered birds. I know their site has that form you fill out but is there really any point?

 

[BEHR655]

Also is there any point in reporting to the fish and wildlife when you see endangered birds. I know their site has that form you fill out but is there really any point?

Report it to the New Jersey Audubon Society.
As far as your numbers go, it's hard to say if you are seeing multiple birds or the same ones over again.

Steve

 

[Teegate]

Went to my moms tonight and there was a very large hawk in a tree in her yard. It was unconcerned that we were standing there. It eventually flew down towards the ground in the neighbors yard where we could not see it.

Guy

 

[bobpbx]

I was coming back from Norfolk this week via Cape May Ferry. About a mile from the south side of the Mullica a bald eagle crossed the parkway overhead. Times sure have changed. Wildlife makes a comeback while humans destroy themselves.

 

[BEHR655]

Times sure have changed. Wildlife makes a comeback while humans destroy themselves.

Maybe they see the eventual vacuum.

 

[uuglypher]

Thanks to a shoulder injury I have been unable to work therefore I have been spending lots of time in my backyard. So far this winter I have recorded the following hawk totals, 6 sharp-shinned(didn't think they stayed here in the winter), too many to count red tails(at least one a day), 10 cooper's hawks, and two american kestrel's. This is probably triple how many hawks I have seen in all the previous winters combined, and I'm not really in to birding, just outside doing work and keep seeing them. The cooper's are especially unusual since they are endangered in new jersey. Also what kind of cameras do you guys use that get so close? I just bought a canon rebel it performance is incredible for close ups, but provides very little zoom capibility. Also is there any point in reporting to the fish and wildlife when you see endangered birds. I know their site has that form you fill out but is there really any point?

The sharp-shinneds, and Cooper's are easily differentiated by the rounded tail of the latter vs. the squared-off tail of the former, but if you can't get a good view of the tail and don't have a good reference for size, be aware that a female sharp-shinned and a male Cooper's can be about the same size. The third bird in the triumvirate of the "Accipiters" (short-winged, fast, agile flyers thru woodland rather than raptors of open spaces) is the Goshawk. I've never seen a gos in the pines but the prof who taught ornithology at Penn State in the early 60's (Professor Merrill Wood) said (in response to my specific question therupon) that they had been seen there.

The male gos and female Coopers overlap in size, but the adult gos lacks the hazel /reddish brown accents in the flank and breast markings that the other two accipiters have. The juveniles of all three are basically brown with brown vertical streaks on the breast.

Sharpies are unusual here in the winter - not much ready prey for the little buggers - but last week I saw several Coopers and two goshawks in the mixed oak-pine woods of a nearby state park. In November of 2004 a mature gos zipped out of my windbreak and peeled a squirrel of the trunk of a cottonwood not twenty feet from the window thru which I was watching the squirrel ... and wishing I had a gos to fly that year!! Wierd?

Now if I were into "signs"...

All this talk of accipiters makes me think some of you might like to see a painting I did of a gos owned by a falconer friend of mine. If interested have a look at "gallery 4" of my artist's pages at the South Dakota Artists Network site:
http://www.sdartists.net/members/dgraham/

Best t'y'all.
Dave

 

[Teegate]

Very nice Dave! I can see why it was sold.

Everyone, make sure you go to gallery 4 to view it. I had to reread his letter before I realized I was looking at the wrong gallery.

Guy

 

[BEHR655]

Wow! Nice stuff Dave. You sure are a talented guy.

Steve

 

[bobpbx]

I am in awe of you Dave. And it's not just because you are articulate and multi-talented. You do not brag, you do not boast, you do not promote yourself. Your amazing abilities are just naturally revealed as an added bonus to us in the course of friendly two-way conversation. On top of all that, you are humble. I feel privileged to know people like you as they are very rare and hard to find in the world.

PS: I love the Anasazi Mandala.

Bob

 

[dragoncjo]

"The sharp-shinneds, and Cooper's are easily differentiated by the rounded tail of the latter vs. the squared-off tail of the former, but if you can't get a good view of the tail and don't have a good reference for size, be aware that a female sharp-shinned and a male Cooper's can be about the same size"

Dave, I did happen to get a picture of the cooper's the other day. Also within the last week I have seen alot of sharp-shinned hawks, probably due to the warm weather we have been having. I now realize the birds I have been seeing previoulsy were cooper's. The sharp-shinned are very small, especially in flight, similar in size to a blue-jay. The cooper in the photograph I took was a large size bird, bigger than a crow smaller than a red tail. Also when he took off it was evident he was a cooper's hawk. Now I guess it could be a female sharpie but the tail was extremely round and very long. Also everytime i see them they are flying low and quick through the trees, much faster and reckless than the sharpies i see. Also very nice pictures Dave, wish I had talent like that, I struggle with stick figures.

Steve, I'm pretty sure all the cooper sightings have been the same couple birds. In late september I observed a pair in our cedar of lebanon tree. My guess is that it is the same pair I keep seeing. Probably preying on the numerous bird feeders in the area. As for the red tails I see them all over the place doubt it is the same few. They seem to be extremely common lately throughout the suburbs.

 

[LARGO]

Dave,
Coming in at the tail end of this one I can only support what Steve and Especially what Bob said.Wow man ! Just about the best read of any posts on this sight on many levels on or off topic what seems to be an endless talent. Hey, I'm sorry..a guy as grounded as yourself probably doesn't care for this nature of comment.
Very nice work and always a pleasure to see your posts.

G.

 

[uuglypher]

...I'm pretty sure all the cooper sightings have been the same couple birds.

Chris's comment is, I was reminded this morning, particularly apt. I saw a goshawk near my home, and was beginning to be impressed with the number of goses in the area, when it turned out this one was one of the two goses I mentioned having seen in the State Park about 8 miles south. She was missing one primary feather in the right wing and the two central feathers of the tail - just as she was when I saw her in the park. Good thing for her that the winter has not been hard on pheasants. Her easily-caught food supply is assured; but if pheasants were sparse and she had to rely on more difficult-to-catch squirrels, those missing feathers could spell the difference between surviving 'til spring migration and dying of sudden hypoglycemia some sub-zero night.

I'd love to know if any of you see a gos this winter.

Dave

 

[uuglypher]

Dave,
Coming in at the tail end of this one I can only support what Steve and Especially what Bob said.
G.

O.K. I'm sort of speechless. And I'm not used to that state. Such kind words are most meaningful when they come as these do, unsolicited from valued and esteemed friends and peers. To ignore and fail to acknowledge them, or to respond simply with thanks would both be, I feel, inappropriate.

I can recall that it can be one's undoing to freely accept - and totally internalize - praise. An American actress starred in the New York premier of a play by - I think - George Bernard Shaw - who, it was well known, did not care for that particular actress's supposed talent. After the premier, which garnered modest accolades from the critics, Shaw sent her a telegram: "Magnificent! Astounding!" She immediately wired back "Undeserving such praise". His immediate response? "I meant the play." Her immediate response? "So did I"

Please know, however, that I do thank you kindly in spite of the fact that I'm doomed to a poor night's sleep - because my head will now not fit thru the bedroom door!

Your kind words are truly appreciated.

Dave