ML77538621
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult, Unknown sex - X
Observation details
Flew in to the vicinity of the feeder near Hoback and Hillsdale at ca 1532, ca 1 minute after hearing high-pitched calls from chickadees (mostly BCCH) and seeing the redpolls fly up from the ground into cover. The SSHA landed for less than 1 minute in a Juniperus scopulorum at the edge of the yard. Before it landed, a large HOFI flock had flushed and headed to the N or NE; a smaller group of HOFI followed at about the time that the SSHA landed. The hawk gave chase, one bird was not tight with the flock, and the hawk did amazing aerial braking and apparently caught the bird in midair over Hoback St ca 70 m N of the Juniperus scopulorum; it flew W with the bird in its talons. We flushed it from another J. scopulorum in a backyard W of Hoback St. It flew to a deciduous tree along the alley W of Hoback, where it fed while perched on a large horizontal branch about halfway up in the tree, looking around frequently. At 1654 it flew up to near the top of a deciduous tree (not positive it was the same tree; we were more distant at that point), then flew off to the SW. Rapid, strong wingbeats, rather snappy like MERL. **Note: I suspect the prey was a HOFI based on the circumstances, but am not positive. I got a video of the hawk feeding, and may be able to confirm prey species from this.
Technical information
- Model
- COOLPIX P900
- ISO
- 800
- Focal length
- 321 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/6.3
- Shutter speed
- 0.01 sec
- Dimensions
- 3560 pixels x 2608 pixels
- Original file size
- 1.2 MB