Cooper's under Construction

A beautifully sunny morning started with a meet-up with my photographer friend from yesterday. I remember leaving him with another photographer, both on the trail of the pileated woodpeckers. He had no photos of the pileated woodpeckers, but he did show me a photo of a sharp-shinned hawk that he took yesterday at Lakeside Park. No sooner had he showed me the photo than a Cooper's hawk flew in, landing high up in the trees.

We both scrambled for the best position, but the hawk did not have enough patience to wait for us to get our feet set. It took off to the far side of the lake. My friend wished me good luck and we parted company. I set off on my usual route, wondering what the day would bring. I didn't hold much hope of seeing the hawk again and decided to just enjoy the fresh air and the walk. That walk was soon interrupted though by some familiar bird of prey calls.



Looking up into the sunlight amongst the silhouettes of branches, I saw a pair of Cooper's hawks perched in a tree.


This was not the best of conditions for photography with the light shining at me, but thankfully this camera performed remarkably well and I was still able to pull out some detail when I processed the images.


And what was the reason for this pair of Cooper's hawks to allow me the privilege of an audience?






They were nest-building! Not just one nest, they were busy constructing two nests in close proximity.
Following on with the theme of the Cooper's hawks, this post must now proceed to the next day and the gloriously sunny morning of March 26th. A change of pace for me. I decided to take a position behind the reeds at the bottom edge of the lake, my rubber boots ankle-deep in water. I was well hidden and had my camera set up for some fast shots of the geese and ducks in flight. I was prepared but in the end, got more than I had hoped for.

Out from the trees on the far side of the lake came two birds of prey.


The larger of the two, a red-tailed hawk, was being pursued by a Cooper's hawk.


The red-tailed hawk got a little too close to the Cooper's hawks nesting area and was unceremoniously being driven out of the Cooper's hawks territory.


The red-tailed hawk is larger, stronger, but no match for the maneuverability of a true woodland predator.





The Cooper's hawk relentlessly pursued the red-tailed hawk.
Diving again and again at the back of the red-tailed hawk.


Until the red-tailed hawk was eventually driven far enough out of the Cooper's hawks territory.


One final photo from the day that I stumbled upon the pair of Cooper's hawks nesting. I had mentioned previously on March 12th (https://wildlakeside.blogspot.com/2020/03/reflecting-light.html) that I had heard and saw a kingfisher at Lakeside Park. Well, I finally managed a photo, a blurred photo, but actual proof that the kingfishers are back.
Copyright © wildlakeside.blogspot.com 2020 Scott Atkinson All Rights Reserved.

Location: Lakeside Park, 206 Lakeside Dr, Kitchener, ON N2M 4C5, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thrushes and Blue-Winged Teal

Image
I must admit that I am no expert when it comes to thrushes in Ontario. I am well acquainted with thrushes in the UK, but these guys have completely different names. I will do my best to hopefully identify correctly. There are I believe two possible candidates,  Swainson's thrush and the hermit thrush. Very similar-looking birds. One outstanding difference between them appears to be a white ring around the eye of the hermit thrush compared to a buffy eyering on Swainson's thrush. Another distinguishing detail is the colour of their tailfeathers. The hermit thrush has more of a cinnamon colour to its tailfeathers, and this photo does show that. A white eyering and cinnamon tailfeathers, I'm going with a hermit thrush. This photo also shows both the cinnamon tailfeathers and the white eyering. There were many of these thrushes working their way through the leaf litter of the woodland on the far side of Shoemaker Lake. They were very sensitive to any movement. I h
Read more

A Coyote, an Osprey and a Goldfish

Image
I never know what I'll find when I go to Lakeside Park, and sometimes it isn't what I find, rather what finds me. Partly hidden behind the woodland's latticework of twigs and fallen branches, this coyote knew I was there. It could definitely hear my clumsy rubber boots and with the wind coming from behind me, it also had the advantage of scent, but it hadn't seen me yet. I knew that I only had a few moments, if that, to capture some photographs. My autofocus struggled, as did the coyote's sight, to cut through all of the obstructions between us, but I did somehow manage a few shots before the coyote disappeared into the undergrowth.  The unexpected often catches me unprepared. A little earlier in the morning, I was attempting to take a photo of the first migratory warbler that I have seen this year, a yellow-rumped warbler. The warbler would not sit still for an instant, and in the course of attempting to relocate the warbler, I was entirely ta
Read more

A Welcome Return

Image
Lakeside Park has always felt welcoming, and it was an unscheduled return on a dull, misty morning in September that saw me tracing my steps from a year ago. I wondered what would be different and what would be unchanged. The black-crowned night heron's willow tree was uncustomarily empty. The long outstretched branch of the willow which reached out over the water had been a favoured roost, but it held nothing. Perhaps I'd catch sight of the beaver out amongst the lilypads, bobbing up and down as it dabbled in the shallows with its feet, searching for tasty roots. But again, there was nothing. The lake appeared eerily still.  And then my vision started to return. Through the mist, a familiar shape came into sharp relief. A grey silhouette dwarfed by the tall reeds on the far bank. It was tiptoeing its way along the length of a partly submerged branch. I had never observed the night heron hunting, but there it was. There was no light, no detail, just grain and layers in shades o
Read more