More people continue to report seeing the juvenile sharp-shinned hawk
in the community garden. Youth is all about discovery, and our bird is
in the process of discovering that even predators have their limits.
Yesterday evening, the ten-inch-long hawk apparently decided that a
nearby hummingbird might make a tasty meal and accordingly launched
into the air for an attack. Witnesses described what followed as “a
dogfight between a 747 and an F-15.”
After the brief, unequal chase, our slightly-older and
slightly-wiser hawk decided to return to the bean trellis and the
peaceful life of catching field mice. The hummingbird returned to
catching insects.
– posted by Niels
