On August 28, 2021, I had just begun my monitoring of the yard for interesting birds. I was suddenly aware of activity near our weather monitoring station and at the same time there was a mass exodus of birds from the yard. I couldn’t see the weather station very well and had to lean back and forth for a better view. What I saw was an accipiter sitting on top of our anemometer!

The accipiter was probably about 40 feet away and I didn’t have a clear view, so I watched without moving. The accipiter then flew to the brush pile we have in the yard. It could hear birds within the brush pile but there was no way it could get in… the brush pile’s basis is a cage constructed of 4″x4 welded wire and filled with branches… just for the purpose of creating a safe harbor for birds under such circumstances!

The accipiter worked its way across the top of the brush pile peering down where it could hear birds beneath it. As it moved to the north side of the brush pile about 15-20 birds took the opportunity to flee from the south side! I kept hoping for the opportunity for a clear photo while it was on one of my staging sticks, but it never came that close. I probably watched the accipiter for about 20 minutes, much, much longer than they usually spend in one location. I finally saw it fly out of sight but couldn’t be sure that it left the yard so I waited for another 15 minutes or so before giving up.

I’m assuming that this accipiter is a Cooper’s hawk but I’m far from an expert in identifying accipiters.