So as you know, I posted about a hawk that I saw on my back fence the other day. Well, I think it has been confirmed that my birdfeeder has turned into Hawk Bird Brunch...
I was on the computer in my office just after having opened the shades on the office window. Because my office windows face the covered back patio and the patio is bordered by evergreen bushes, the windows can (when the office is dark) reflect that vegetation and make it look like the vegetation is on that side as well. I have heard a couple of birds in the past run into the windows, but nothing very hard. So when I heard the knock on the window yesterday, I knew that a bird had hit it pretty hard. When I looked at the window, I could see a small female finch out there, just sitting on the sill, and I knew she was the one to hit and it was sitting there stunned. My experience with stunned birds is to let them be and after a while, they will usually fly away after recovery from the contact with the window.
So I checked on it every once in a while, but it was still sitting out there. I moved over to the french doors to get a better look (without it seeing me and frightening it), and I could see the hawk sitting on the ground near the edge of the patio. Just as I realized it was the hawk, it starts to fly towards the little bird and the window sill. The little bird flies up out of the way, and the hawk retreats away from the patio (I think the small covered space makes the hawk nervous). So the little bird continues to sit on the sill. I start to move out the french doors right as the hawk comes back in and the little bird flees to a bush on the side of the patio that is much too dense for the hawk to follow it. The hawk retreats again to a neighboring tree. I walk out to the end of my patio and he sits up in that tree squawking at me for ruining his brunch. Eventually, he flys away. I never did see the little bird again on the patio but hopefully she recovered and is back to eating at the feeder with her friends.
Now each morning when there are about 20-25 little song birds eating at my feeder, I wonder if the hawk is sitting somewhere nearby waiting for one of them to make a mistake...
