Serious looking juvenile Cooper's Hawk, Morgan County, UtahSerious looking juvenile Cooper’s Hawk – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1600, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

Because of heavy cloud cover and thick fog I didn’t go out into the field again yesterday morning but that doesn’t mean that I’m not looking for birds everywhere I go. I look for birds on the way to the grocery store, I look for birds when I go to the waste management facility, it really doesn’t matter where I am because I am always looking for birds even when I don’t have my camera in hand. You could bet the farm on it.

I park my Jeep out on the shoulder of the road during the day but move it into the driveway late in the evening because I’ve had problems with my Jeeps being out in the road in the past. One time some thugs broke my driver’s window and ripped my car stereo out of the dash, they probably sold it on Craig’s List for 10 bucks or something minor. Right below the stereo in the console was at least that much money in change that the thieves probably didn’t even see because although it was covered in pieces of glass that change was still there. One other incident was waking up and finding out some idiots had thrown a huge rock into my windshield which shattered it completely overnight. The police officer told me that 5 other vehicles had similar damage a few blocks away.  So, at night I move my Jeep away from the road and haven’t had any more problems.

Boy I have blathered on.

Last evening after I moved my Jeep into the driveway and was about to head inside I heard a terrible racket that was originating from the neighbor’s huge spruce tree across the street so I turned and looked towards the tree, the sun had set and the light was low but I stood there trying to see where the noise was coming from as it dawned on me that the noise I was hearing was coming from one very ticked off European Starling.

An alert European Starling, Lee Kay Ponds, Salt Lake County, UtahAn alert European Starling – Nikon D200, f7.1, 1/750, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light

The screeching noise was loud and it alerted other birds that there was a problem, I could see silhouettes of House Finches at the top of the tree creating their own racket of noise as other small, unidentifiable birds flew over and near the spruce calling loudly. By then I suspected that the neighborhood Cooper’s Hawk may have grabbed a starling but it was dark enough that I just couldn’t see them in the boughs of the tree even though I tried hard.

Then the noise suddenly stopped and I saw the silhouette of a European Starling fly out of the tree with the Cooper’s Hawk hot on its tail, literally.  Somehow the starling had survived being in the hawk’s grip and it escaped by flying away as quickly as it could. The Cooper’s Hawk rather quickly gave up the chase and landed in another nearby tree as I thought to myself “Did I really just see that?” and I went back inside thinking about how freaking awesome life is.

You just never know what you’ll see in nature even if it is just outside your door.

Mia

These images are not from last nights encounter, the Cooper’s Hawk photo was taken this year in Morgan County, Utah and the European Starling was photographed in 2010 at the Salt Lake County Waste Management Facility.