Hey, @nelinoeva. How are you? And I have good news, but maybe it's not very pleasant - a hawk flew to my bird feeder the day before yesterday.
So, a little background. I first saw a hawk clearly outside my window in December 2025. That day, he caught a chickadee, sat on the snow under the window, and looked at me. This was our first contact. Before that, I only saw a fast bird that flew like a shadow near a tree, scaring small birds.
After our first encounter, I began to see a hawk more often outside the window, by the tree on which the bird feeder hung, and tits, bullfinches, and other similar birds would sit.
But usually these were attacks by a hawk, from which the birds flew in different directions, and the predator tried to catch them in the air. Sometimes the hawk wanted to catch birds that were clinging to the branches of a tree, but it was difficult for him to get through the branches.
Last year, in 2025, a hawk appeared near the tree everyday and sometimes attacks occurred several times a day. I always thought it was the same bird. Maybe I'm wrong about that.
It is interesting to observe the dynamics of birds' adaptation to the environment.
For example, initially, the jays flew to the feeder early in the morning, even at night. But at some time, they began to live in this tree every day practically.
So is the hawk. Last year, he began not only flying around the tree, but also landing on nearby trees.
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But this year, I thought that no one and nothing threatened the birds during the games at the feeder outside my window.
On Sunday, my daughter looked out the window and almost screamed - a hawk has arrived! Yes, it was him. He was sitting on a branch and seemed to be waiting for me to take a camera and take a photo shoot for him. But he was perched on the far branch of a tree. There were about 4 meters between us, but the branches were in the way of creating a beautiful picture. I had to aim in his direction from another window to get a more beautiful picture. But the branches got in the way in this case, too.
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For literally 5 minutes, the bird sat on one branch and looked directly at me.
Then she flew to another tree. And she began to turn her head. Her head is turning 180 degrees! But she only sat in this tree for a couple of minutes.
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"She flew." Those were my daughter's words. But the bird moved back to another tree and began to turn its head. More precisely, she turned her head back to look at me! But maybe it's just my imagination. I was looking at the bird through the window. Or could the bird have seen me?
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We tried to show the bird to Timofey, my grandson, but he did not understand where the bird was sitting.
The hawk sat on this tree for 5 minutes and then slowly flew about its avian business towards the forest. The little birds literally immediately returned to the feeder, as if there was no danger.
By the way, I noticed that almost all the photos of the hawk were taken by me on an overcast day. Maybe this is his behavior? The fact is that he can attack birds in a tree only from the south or west side, but on a sunny day, his shadow can frighten potential victims ahead of time. Of course, I will continue to observe the bird life outside my window.
@apnigrich
