I do spare a glance for other cruel killers too, you know. We’ve got one of these Cooper’s hawks living in my neighborhood, and I heard them making that high-pitched cry a few times already this morning.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
The nasty thing about raptors is, they do not kill their prey quickly.
Might want to keep your cat inside. A big hawk likes a challenge.
Cooper’s hawks are quite small, and pose no danger to house cats. I have one who occasionally visits my bird feeder, though I find it a bit distressing to have a hawk eating a songbird in my garden. That isn’t quite the type of bird feeding I planned.
We have all kinds of hawks in our neighborhood. We also have golden eagles and bald eagles.
I’ve also discovered that crows are predators, too. I’ve watched from a window while a crow attacked and ate a bluebird that was feeding in my yard. I’ve seen them work together to take down a dove that was sitting on a wire. The worst was when our bluebirds had a nest in the oak tree just outside of our bedroom window. The murder of crows made an early morning attack on the nest of recently hatched baby birds. I will never unhear that horrible sound. I now hate crows!
My cats are never, ever allowed outside. (We also have bobcats and the occasional mountain lion spotted in the neighborhood.)
My Princess Leia has seen large predator birds circling low over our patio from her favorite window. She runs to me in a terrified rush. She must believe that they are cat-eating birds!
I live inland in northern England.
We have an off-course white tailed sea eagle helping itself to fish in the local stream.
That is one impressive bird!
Out here in Arizona, hummingbirds like to nest under hawk nests, for obvious reasons.
Our sea eagles are bigger than ordinary eagles, but more timid. When the wildlife rescue people deliver food the sea eagles wait until the ordinary eagles (if present) have eaten.
Sea eagles seem to rely more on scavenging than ordinary eagles.
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Ospreys are impressive, with their big nests standing out.
Some of the birds in that video look like they could be sharp-shinned hawks. But it’s often impossible to tell them apart, unless maybe they are side-by-side, which is unlikely.
ID’ing coopers and sharpies
Isopods are not spiders either; a 26 cm long species has been discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. They may not be predators but they look as if they can hurt you badly.
But they will rarely be spotted perched in trees.
wcaryk – Thanks for mentioning about hummingbirds and hawk nests.
After your comment I searched the internet. I didn’t realize that Cooper’s hawks don’t eat hummingbirds, or at least a certain species, and the hummingbird nests are protected from predators when near the hawk nests. It makes sense, but I had admittedly been removing hummingbird feeders when the Cooper’s hawks were around.
https://wildlife.org/hummingbirds-benefit-from-nesting-near-hawks/
zygoptera, I expect hawks couldn’t catch hummingbirds even if they wanted to: too small, maneuverable, and lightning fast.
zygopyera @10
According to the artivle you linked to, its the Mexican jays that the hawks protect the hummingbirds from. Jays are known a aggressive birds. Mexican jays in particular also hunt a small species of owl that’s native to the Southwest.