4 December 2012 - Life, Death and Dominance in the Backyard

Anyone following along knows that we feed the birds all year round and derive great enjoyment from this. But lately, our bird feeders are taking on some sinister connotations. A Cooper's Hawk has been staking out the feeders. An overhead fly-by will result in pandemonium. Little birds hit the windows in big numbers trying to escape. 

This week when we had a Cooper's fly through the yard a pair of house finches hit the living room windows, hard. The male was knocked out, but came to and an hour later was recovered enough to fly away. The female died. 

But this is the 'who knew?' part.  A little red squirrel came along, carried the dead finch away to one of the balcony rafters and proceeded to eat it. Squirrels eat birds? 

On reflection, I do know they rob bird nests, eat eggs and sometimes baby birds, I guess that a very fresh bird is a welcome lagniappe. 

We also have a large quail population that comes through several times a day. 

Unfortunately, they are easy prey for peregrines. It is really hard to hear birds thunk into the windows, then see the hawk fly off with a quail. I know they have to eat, but I rather object to them dining off my feeding stations. 

After a recent hawk sighting, most of the flock flew for the safety of the pyracantha bushes, but several were on the porch, too close to the house to fly, so they just froze in place. It gave me a chance to get some nice head shots. 

 





I love their topknots.  A fully mature male's plume is made up of six feathers that eventually join up into one feather. The older the male the more magnificent the plume. I have to think they are very proud of their feathers.

I do, however, wish the hawks would take their business to another grocery store. 

On the upside, we have morning magpies. They show up for breakfast every day. Leftover cat food is quite the treat. We have seen as many as 15 at a time. Magpies are the clowns of the bird world. They are big, raucous, smart and great fun to watch. We have spent hours watching them figure out how to get to the suet feeders by jumping up and hanging upside down.  

The deer are starting to come down in larger numbers, and in addition to all the does, the young bucks are beginning to show up. Tonight we had three very young bucks in the back yard, two had spikes and one was a two-pointer.  They were very busy head- butting. We had our noses pressed to windows watching these babies start their quest for dominance. Hmm. Would that be doe-minance? 

Here the two yearling spikes are pushing each other around. The larger buck in the background got involved as well. We weren't sure if he was coaching, or taking both or them on. Sometimes I feel that we spend most of our time at the windows. We have a busy, fascinating world, right in our own back yard.