Bird Photography Weekly-Sharp Shinned Hawk gets Starling

Well the hawk saga in my backyard continues. I had the Coopers fly by at about 7:30am and did not see them after that. At about 1PM today I went into my kitchen and could see a miniature version of a coopers with something underneath my shrub. I cringed knowing it got a bird and grabbed my camera to get a better idea what it was, hoping it wasn't a song bird. After zooming in I was able to confirm that it was a male starling.

I went into my bathroom for a better view and was able to lift the screen and hang my body out of the window for photos. The hawk looked at me but continued to do his business as I took a few photos. One thing I have noticed about hawks the past couple of days is that they would prefer not to move their prey unless they feel very threatened. If you approach them slowly without saying a word, you can get photos of hawks you would otherwise not be able to get because they would fly away.

I can't get over how small the sharp shins are. I would put them as the size of a crow and perhaps a little smaller. How you can really tell is by the size of their talons. Look at how small its legs are.

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FYI, the next photo is a little graphic. If you are sensitive to semi-gory pictures than I strongly suggest you stop right here as I would hate to be the one to upset you and ruin your day. ;o). It is basically a picture of the sharp skinned with its beak open and a little blood inside. You make the call if you want to see it or not. I just like to warn my readers out of courtesy.

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If you were able to handle that photo then perhaps you can handle the next. This one is very gory and graphic. You will not see any known starling body parts (except for perhaps its wing), but you will see a lot of blood. I was hesitant to put this on my blog and thought about it all day. I decided to do so because my hobby is wildlife photography. Yes I enjoy the pictures I take of my songbirds perched perfectly on my feeders, but also want to photograph birds as they are in the wild (in fact, that is my favorite way to photograph them). If this were a cardinal, blue jay, etc. I would probably not be posting or taking pictures so perhaps I am a tad hypocritical here. For those of you who follow my blog, you will remember I get up to 70 starlings in my yard at once, so was happy to see the sharpie had his lunch despite how messy it was compared to mine.

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LAST CHANCE

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Sigh, so there you have it. I have a bunch of hawks in my yard that are grabbing the birds who come to my feeders. I have thought about taking them down, but won't. We have over a foot of snow here with below freezing temps forecasted for the remainder of the week. The birds I feed depend on me too much and I can't take away the food that may keep them alive during this cold spell.

Remember when I said I was starting to get more interested in raptors and waterfowl because songbirds were becoming more difficult to photograph because they are never around?? Well I never thought it would come to this. I have seen more birds of prey the past 10 days than I could have imagined. All I need now is to see an owl and eagle and I will be all set for the winter!!

For more great bird photography photos go to Bird Photography Weekly