Sharpshin visitor!!! (1 Viewer)

[rseymour]

Guess who appeared as I was creating a new BirdBreath cartoon? I got so excited, I missed getting a close up picture of him in the seed dish. He's been here before. I never thought the cam would catch him. |:$|

 

[rseymour]

He's back!!!

Look who showed up this morning. I was surprised to see him on this car.

 

[bronco]

Looks like a mature adult shinny, they are some nasty birds, I have been awe-struck whenever I witnessed the rare attack near my feeders.
I saw a sharp-shin working a warehouse area 2 weeks ago. I was parked in a tractor trailer between two large warehouses, and the shinny caught my eye. It was cruising the roof line of the warehouse looking for perching prey. I could see it had a strategic, even intelligent plan of attack. It was dipping below the warehouse wall and then it would climb over the edge for a look around. Anything that would have been there would have been seriously caught off guard. NICE PIX. I have observed the exact same perching behavior near my feeders...I once observed a Sharp shin perched in a bush two feet off the ground waiting motionless, not 15 feet from my feeders. It looked exactly as yours does in the pics.

 

[rseymour]

Thanks for the information. How near a field was the warehouse? Do they normally live there?

Our's seemed to be fixed on our driveway shrubs. I took the picture from inside the garage so I wouldn't scare him.

He was fun to watch. |=)|

 

[maineiac]

Nice picture!

I have witnessed numerous attacks by these on the chickadees and goldfinches on my feeder out back. The sharpshins are absolutely fearless, once flying within a few feet of me while chasing a small bird through my old apple tree. Also, they will just sit there and let you walk right up underneath them while they perch and wait to attack. The other day one flew through, hit a chickadee, creating a snowstorm of feathers, and was gone in all of about 3 seconds.

It is a feeding station I guess....

 

[rseymour]

He returned again tonight. Shortly after this picture he did a head first dive into oyr bushes. Fortunately, he came out empty..... |=)|

 

[jm32206]

Wow, those are nice shots....I usually have a red-tailed hanging out around my garden where the feeders are. He's also come down to sit on the fence to snag him one of the locals.

 

[rseymour]

That must be a beautiful sight. I've seen them high in the air but never up close.

 

[Larry Lade]

I was sitting here at our computer checking the BirdForum, glancing out a window at our backyard bird feeders I noticed a male Downy Woodpecker apparently "frozen" on the peanut feeder. I have seen this behavior of birds sometimes when there is a raptor nearby. I grabbed my binoculars and went outside to see if I could locate a raptor in the area. I walked by within ten feet of the woodpecker on the feeder. The woodpecker did not move, but remained motionless, disregarding my nearby presence. I scanned all the nearby trees and could not find anything. I went back into the house and once again could see the woodpecker on the feeder. He looked like he was carved in stone. I could detect no movement of this bird whatsoever! I looked out another window and then I spied a Sharp-shinned Hawk sitting relatively high in a leafless Silver Maple. The hawk was approximately 100 feet away from the feeders. I went back to watching the woodpecker on the feeder. He had not moved at all. As I watched him, he did blink his eyes once or twice, but that was the only movement he made. The woodpecker maintained his statuesque pose for perhaps twenty minutes. Eventually he flew off the feeder and out of harms way. All this while the hawk had been perched up in the nearby tree. A minute or two after the woodpecker left, the hawk also took off for parts unknown.

 

[orviskid]

had one too

this guy has been around our feeders quite abit. all the birds head for the hedges when he shows up. he knows where to stand.

 

[rseymour]

OMG!!! Beautiful!!!!! (Even tho he eats our little friends)..... :eat:

 

[danehower]

Allright Robert, I hope some good material to work with there . Keep those cartoons going ! - how about one for the upcoming holidays ? Amazing stuff !

 

[rseymour]

Cartoons

Thanks for the compliments. This one gave me an idea for the cartoon I drew this morning. For the holidays, we've also got some good ones coming....|=)|

 

[howell7079]

Great pictures.