Backyard Barred Owl and Attack of the Cooper's Hawk

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A short post here to kick off the new year. Early this fall we were quite busy and didn’t have much time for birding or travel (which of course would involve birding!). And besides enjoying our backyard bird feeder visitors, we had a couple of unexpected birding opportunities.

The week started with us having a rare owl visitor to our back yard. Though Barred Owls are common, so common in fact that they are now being hunted to protect the Spotted Owl population, we generally don’t see them at our home! But this one showed up for a good two days, spending day time just relaxing in our back yard. I’m not sure if it was hunting squirrels or other rodents in the yard but at least it ignored our two pugs.

The same week the owl decided to visit, a strange occurrence happened just down the road near my sons elementary school. I was parked in a neighborhood near his school and heard a horrible squawking coming from the front yard of someone’s home near where I parked. Sadly the loud squawking was coming from an unfortunate Northern Flicker that had been grabbed by a Cooper’s Hawk. I was unable to see it at first but then the Hawk leapt out from a thick bush with the Flicker in it’s claws. A nearby Steller’s Jay shrieked it’s disapproval and warning to other birds. I was able to grab a short video that I removed the audio from because honestly I don’t think you want to listen to the poor Flicker’s squawks. I slowed the video down as the lighting wasn’t great and it’s hard to identify the Flicker. The Hawk flew away with the Flicker and I cannot confirmed if it completed the kill, though I hope the Flicker escaped I accept that this is just a part of a healthy natural ecosystem.

Cooper’s Hawks are quite common and tend to hunt other smaller and even medium sized birds like the Northern Flicker. If they show up in your yard it is recommended to remove your bird feeder unless you also intend to feed the Hawk (it won’t eat the seeds though!). Though we’ve spotted Cooper’s Hawks many times near highways and fields we’ve never got a great photo of one, when we do we’ll be sure to post about it!

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Most of these shots were taken with the Sony a7 along with the Sony FE 200-600mm lens.