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| Photo by Dan Abraham |
Much reader reaction to Monday's column on birding.
"You can't go wrong with birds," I told my wife. Not only for their beauty, their energy, the way they slip the bonds of earth and fly. But their independence — they carry on quite well without us; better, in fact. They are not often domesticated. People do keep birds, but in cages. Not like dogs and cats and goldfish. They are free, which is more than we can say, particularly at the present moment.
Among the many sharing their thoughts was Dan Abraham, who writes:
"I’ve never written to you before, but after reading the column on birding, I thought you might like this photo. I don’t intend to go birding, but this guy showed up in my backyard in Evanston the same day your column came out. Google says it’s a Cooper’s hawk. "
He is right, I do like it, and his photo prompted an investigation and a confession.
First, for all the times I've referred to a Cooper's hawk, I never asked the obvious question which is ... anybody? ... that's right: who's Cooper?
The bird was named — nearly two centuries ago, in 1828 — after naturalist William Cooper, one of the founders of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, now the New York Academy of Sciences, and what is extra nice is that it was not done so by Cooper puffing himself, as often happens, but by his friend, Charles Lucien Bonaparte.
"You can't go wrong with birds," I told my wife. Not only for their beauty, their energy, the way they slip the bonds of earth and fly. But their independence — they carry on quite well without us; better, in fact. They are not often domesticated. People do keep birds, but in cages. Not like dogs and cats and goldfish. They are free, which is more than we can say, particularly at the present moment.
Among the many sharing their thoughts was Dan Abraham, who writes:
"I’ve never written to you before, but after reading the column on birding, I thought you might like this photo. I don’t intend to go birding, but this guy showed up in my backyard in Evanston the same day your column came out. Google says it’s a Cooper’s hawk. "
He is right, I do like it, and his photo prompted an investigation and a confession.
First, for all the times I've referred to a Cooper's hawk, I never asked the obvious question which is ... anybody? ... that's right: who's Cooper?
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| William Cooper |
The bird was named — nearly two centuries ago, in 1828 — after naturalist William Cooper, one of the founders of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, now the New York Academy of Sciences, and what is extra nice is that it was not done so by Cooper puffing himself, as often happens, but by his friend, Charles Lucien Bonaparte.
Among his other interests, Cooper was a conchologist, a word I had not encountered before, which means exactly what it sounds like: a zoologist of shells.
The confession is simple: I tend to call every hawk I see a "Cooper's hawk," even if they are a sharp-shinned hawk, which indeed look very similar, or a rough-legged hawk, or any of the eight species of hawks found in Illinois.
Now that I admit the sin, the practice of lumping all hawks under that one variety sounds pretty lame. I'm going to have to try to do better and improve my hawk-identification skills. Hawks deserve no less.
There is a pair of peregrines roosting somewhere near me in Rogers Park. Once a year, I go into the back yard & find the remains of one of those disgusting pigeons that one of them has caught & eaten. I love that!
ReplyDeleteThat's what hawks do, I guess. No applause necessary.
Deletejohn
In the 1970s the Cooper's Hawk was listed as a threatened species in Illinois. It's hard to imagine that today. Cooper's hawks adapted to their changing landscape and became backyard aerial attack specialists when their forest habitat was replaced by houses. Someone mentioned yesterday that blue jays are bullies at bird feeders. But they have adapted, too. Blue jays imitate hawk calls as they fly toward their favorite bird feeder. It frightens the other birds and clears out a space at the feeder. Despite this behavior, I'm still grateful when a blue jay decides to overwinter in my neighborhood because it saves many resident birds from becoming a meal for a Cooper's hawk. The blue jay is the neighborhood Paul Revere, sounding the alarm when the Cooper's hawk is on its way.
ReplyDeleteblue jays doing hawk impersonations-who knew?
Deletei love birds.
ReplyDeleteI love my parakeet.
ReplyDeleteI admit to being a “crazy bird lady.” With several feeders in the yard, I attract quite a few species. My favorites are the cardinal pair that stop by daily, the goldfinches and the dark-eyed juncos that spend the winters in the area. Unfortunately, the feeders with plenty of birds also attract the hawks. I know that it’s “nature,” but it’s tough to watch. We’ve been excited to see a few bald eagles here in the Southwest suburbs lately, too! Birdwatching is a nice distraction from thinking about what’s happening on the world around us.
DeleteParakeets are quite intelligent, and will mimic sounds...what we describe as "talking." They learn to say what they hear over and over. We had one when my sister and I were young kids. His cage was in the kitchen, where my mother spent a good deal of time. Thanks to her, that little blue-and-white bird learned how to swear. I thought that was pretty funny. My mother...not so much.
DeleteSome years ago I did a falconry course and learned I didn't have the commitment to care for a raptor. It's very intense. I asked why no one used a Cooper's Hawk for hunting. Apparently they have the nastiest temperaments of the raptors.
ReplyDelete.
I've discovered from Professor Google that some of the different types of ducks, hawks, doves, etc. can mate with members of similar types and produce viable offspring. Don't let the Trumpites know -- they'd pass a law against such offenses.
ReplyDeleteWe had neighbors who were loud and chaotic. There were 12 kids in the family. The kids in my family were fascinated by this family, and we loved spending time at their house. One summer, they asked us to "bird -sit" their parakeet while they were on vacation. We were honored to do so! And we couldn't believe our dad also took an interest in their bird, because we weren't allowed to get a pet until we were older and could care for it ourselves. Yet my dad would sit and talk to that parakeet every night. Apparently, he repeated the same sentence over and over, hoping the bird would learn it. He said, "Eleanor, take the pill", which meant nothing to me at the time. But my mom finally heard what he was saying and freaked. (as far as I know, the bird never repeated the phrase, and we remained friendly with our neighbors after their return).
ReplyDeleteHello Neil
ReplyDeleteReading your column today brings to mind an excellent book: “H is for Hawk”
written by Helen MacDonald
I read that book after hearing a recommendation from Tony Fitzpatrick who draws the most marvelous pictures of birds and incorporates them into his wonderful work
Better days ahead
Willie Winters
A few years ago I was sitting my chair when I looked out the window and saw a Hawk sitting on top of a chair. I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 feet away. I was able to get a picture, but it wasn't very good. I tried to snake around our building and get a better shot. But he took off. I was hardly close, maybe 50 feet away. Maybe ot sensed I was there.
ReplyDelete