My World Cooper's Hawk

I've been working diligently to lure birds to our backyard with seed and suet. The persistence seems to finally be paying off. Apparently, enough prey is present to attract the neighborhood Cooper's hawk. The bird alighted on our neighbor's Siberian Elm, above some already flowering silver maples, as Megan, Weston, and I were enjoying Saturday's 70 degree weather.

Since I shot this picture right in my backyard while sitting on my deck with my new family, I thought it would make a great contribution to the "My Word" Meme. Go here to participate and view other images.

Tom

Hawk

My friend and former co-worker Laura Wutz sent along this fantastic shot of a Cooper's hawk from her yard in Hudson, Ohio. Hudson is in my old neck of the woods, just north of where I went to High School in Stow Ohio. Both towns are sandwiched in the megalopolis between Cleveland and Akron. Megan and I visited my parents this past weekend, and although there might not be as much traffic as Columbus, it is much harder to drive a few miles and get out of the city like here in Columbus. Columbus is growing, but the urban sprawl outward from those two cities is pretty great.

Anyways, back to the Hawk. Another co-worker brought in her digital camera, and she had photographed yet another cooper's hawk in her backyard. Was this a coincidence? Are the bird-eating cooper's hawks congregating around bird feeders to catch an easy, sunflower-fed (as opposed to corn-fed!) meal?