Participant Photo: Sharp-shinned Hawk

Found this adult Sharp-shinned Hawk on 4-Jan-2019 by watching the gaze of a Tufted Titmouse as it looked upward for several minutes while remaining in a frozen posture. The titmouse was in a tangle of greenbrier vines, as were four Black-capped Chickadees. The hawk was about 16 feet above the birds and not quite directly overhead. The titmouse remained frozen while the chickadees hopped around the titmouse in the greenbrier tangle. The chickadees must have known that a predator was nearby but felt safe enough to move about in the vine tangle. The hawk finally made an attempt on a Downy Woodpecker, but was unsuccessful.