As I’ve been watching my backyard so intensely the last two months, one of my favorite occurrences is when a Cooper’s Hawk blows through my yard scattering the birds. If I’m inside and listening to my OldBird21c microphone while doing other work, I’ll often drop everything when I hear the birds scatter–and if I’m quick enough, I’ll see the culprit winging through the trees or perched after a failed blitz.
Here’s the audio of birds scattering as an immature Cooper’s Hawk buzzed the yard this morning just before noon.
Starling alarms followed by Mourning Dove eruption
Notice the first birds to sound an alarm are the European Starlings, then other birds chip in and the Mourning Doves explode (probably the intended prey) explode into flight. Followed by silence as birds hunker down until the bird moves on.
I love it when this happens. The other day, I heard this and said Cooper’s Hawk as I ran to the patio door, just in time to point out the flyby accipiter to my son. It was almost magic. OK, not magic. But close!
