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Heard a Great Horned Owl calling last night, must be that time of year...

An adult Cooper's hawk came crashing out of the privet/honeysuckle tangle,
on foot,  to jump up and land on the closeline pole.  It apparently was
walking around inside the brush looking for  a white-throated sparrow it
chased into the tangled mass (a sparrow stormed out of the opposite side).
If they can't catch you on the wing, they'll walk you down.

I've seen this behavior often enough to think it typical of Cooper's Hawk,
usually at a banding station, but other places as well.  The hawk will walk
out into the open from dense brush after as many as10  minutes or so,
apparently in search of birds that frantically dove into the brush as the
hawk approached.  Perhaps as fleeing passerines attempt to escape the hawk's
crasp they occassionaly injure themselves in their mad dash for cover­the
hawk need only walk in and find the injured bird.  If it paid off once its
worth repeating.

Anyone else observe this behavior or like behavior in other hawks.
Swainson's Hawk in a dry Texas resaca, walking behind a grass cutting
tractor, picking off grasshoppers, might be an example?

Greg
--
Greg Dodge
Durham, NC
http://www.brownbagproductions.com