I stepped out the back door this afternoon to meet, nearly face-to- face, a male Downy Woodpecker on one of the sticks that comprises my homemade bark- butter feeder. He was glued to it, it seemed, his belly and chin right down on the stick, not feeding. He did not flush as I stepped out, only 10 feet away, to my surprise. I then heard a rustling toward the neighbor's fenceline, and spotted the juvenile Cooper's Hawk. (I've had more backyard Cooper's this year than ever). The Downy was clinging, frozen, to the stick exactly 180 degrees opposite the hawk. When the hawk flew to the rear of the yard, the Downy scooted around to point his red spot directly at me, again keeping the stick between him and the hawk. When the hawk finally flew off one way, so did the Downy, the other way. Smart little bird, knew enough to freeze and not dare fly, even with me right there, given the greater danger of doing so. To steal a line that's the title of a recent book, a 'rare encounter with ordinary birds.'
Dave Cameron Denver -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
