A
Blue Jay shrieks a warning cry! Pandemonium sweeps across the yard as
birds flee in all directions. A Chipping Sparrow delays a few seconds too
long before taking flight and is caught a couple of feet above the feeder
by a small blue-backed hawk. The two birds tumble to the ground where the
sparrow is quickly killed and eagerly devoured by this villain of the
forest.
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Hawk and Hummer by Bill Summerour |
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When people see
a Sharp-shinned Hawk taking a meal at the bird feeder their sympathies are
almost always with the prey, not the predator. The reaction is usually
"how horrible! What can be done?" The answer, easy to give but
difficult to accept, is nothing. Human sympathies do not fit into the
natural world. Animals, birds, and plants are interrelated and interact
with each other in patterns that have evolved over millions of years. The
Sharp-shinned Hawk is just one more bird coming to the feeder. He doesn’t
eat seeds though, he eats the "birds" that eat the seeds.
Sharp-shinned
Hawks are found in Alabama primarily in the winter. Their similar, but
larger, cousin the Cooper’s Hawk is present year round. Both are in the
family known as accipters. They are woodland hawks that feed mainly on small
birds but will also eat rodents and insects.
The
Sharp-shinned Hawk is about the size of a robin. Adults have a blue back and
a rusty breast with white bars. Young birds are mostly brown with pale spots
above and are streaked and barred with brown below. The tail is relatively
long and the wings are short and rounded. I have often heard them referred
to as "Blue Darters".
The
"Sharpie" is well built for capturing birds on the wing. The
short, rounded wings allow him to snake through tight places and to make
quick turns. The long tale serves as a rudder. This alone however does not
make him a match for a healthy chickadee or titmouse. The element of
surprise gives the hawk a couple of seconds advantage. He still misses quite
often though.
Studies show that
sick and crippled birds are the ones most often caught by accipters. Big
flocks of birds concentrated at feeders are an unnatural occurrence in the
natural world. In these gatherings disease can spread quickly. By culling
the sick birds, Sharp-shinned Hawks help to prevent this.I have noticed that
when the birds at my feeders sense danger their first reaction is to freeze.
Sometimes its a passing cat or dog. A loud or unusual sound can trigger this
reaction and a large bird flying over will always cause it. If an attack
occurs the birds head for cover, if not they resume feeding after a few
minutes. When I see the birds get very still during the winter months I scan
the trees for a hawk. I usally spot old "Sharpie" on his favorite
perch.
My most memorable
experience with a Sharp-shinned hawk, with any bird for that matter,
occurred in January of 1988. This happend at my father’s home in
Greenville, Alabama. Dad’s life was approaching its end and his winter day
consisted of sitting in the kitchen by an old space heater, chain-smoking
Benson and Hedges cigarettes, drinking coffee and listening to country music
on the radio. When he wasn’t reading the paper he was watching birds on a
feeder that was just outside the window. It was my custom to stop by around
noon several times a week. Sometimes we would have lunch; we always sat and
talked and watched the birds on the feeder.
This particular
January day was very cold. There were more than a hundred birds in our field
of view. I looked across the yard and saw a small hawk perched atop a
clothesline post. Before I could even say "there’s a sharpie",
he was in the air headed toward the feeder. He nailed a House Finch on the
feeder and sat there clutching him in his talons not 15 inches from our
unbelieveing eyes. During the next 5 minutes we witnessed an absoultely
grisly spectacle.
The larger
feathers were quickly plucked off and discarded. The still fluttering
captive then literally lost his head. With a hooked beak perfectly suited
for the task the hawk pulled strips of flesh from the breast and back. The
legs, wings, and entrails went down the gullet next and then with a final
gulp the meal ended as the lungs and still quivering heart disappeared.
With a flash of
wings the "Blue Darter" was up and away. We watched through a
flurry of finch feathers as he resumed his hawking post to watch for his
next victim. Too dumfounded to speak, I just muttered "uuh". The
old man fired up a Benson and Hedges and said, "that was the damndest
thing I ever saw."
