Participant Photo: Cooper’s Hawk on the Hunt

We had a large storm December 15 and 16th, the snowfall was particularly deep and very heavy in weight. Trees like birch and hedgerows all bent over with the weight, a lot of limbs broke. In the days following I noted my hedgerow on the south side of my back garden had collapsed and it provided a place for the Sparrows, Juncos and others to make a hasty retreat to. With the number of feeder birds here, the Coopers Hawk landed on a garden stake next to the hedgerow. I had watched all the smaller birds fly into the hedgerow just before he landed on the garden stake. He already had something to eat elsewhere, as I could see a spot of blood on his belly. He soon flew to a branch 10′ away at the hedgerow. He knew his next meal could like be in there. He stayed watching closely but after about 5 minutes went back to the stake and a few minutes later flew off.