The Goshawk Strikes Again! Or maybe it was a Cooper

[upstatenybowyer]

So I was in a classroom the other day, teaching a lesson about wilderness survival, when to my astonishment I look out the window and watch this massive bird swoop down out of nowhere, grab a sparrow, and perch itself directly outside the classroom window. It proceeded to devour its unsuspecting prey while 22 5th graders (and a memorized teacher) looked on in awe.

Here are 5 pictures in succession of the feast...

[upstatenybowyer]

last 2...

[DC]

Great pictures!! That's an immature Gos or it could also be a large female Coopers hawk. You can tell it's immature by the broad banding on the breast. The immature coloring is very close in Accipiters and the females are about a third larger than the males. And a Gos is about a third larger than a Coopers so you can get an even transition of size between species. A Sharp shinned Hawk carries the size difference farther down.

[Pat B]

Very cool and what a great lesson on survival for your 5th graders.
 I'm ADD(before they knew what ADD was) and I remember when I was in grammar school I could tell you all about the pigeons on the roof next door more than what was going on in the classroom.

[Hawkdancer]

Very neat!  Definitely, lesson in survival and the  workings of the food chain!
Hawkdancer

[upstatenybowyer]

Well Don, now I can't tell if it was an immature Gos, or a Cooper's. It was pretty big, but not even close to the one that attacked my chickens. I know we've got Coopers, but not sure about Sharp-shinned. Thanks for your insight!  Maybe JW will chime in... 

I'm ADD too Pat. I think it's one of the reasons I went in to teaching- to try and bring a little understanding of what its like into the schools. We would have been great students 200 years ago when learning took place in the great outdoors. 

Yeah Hawk, the universe came together nicely for the kids. 

[DC]

I would suspect that it was a Coopers. A sparrow sounds like it's a little small for a Gos to catch but I've been wrong many, many times. Hunger can put a real edge on their performance and this is the time of year the juveniles get real hungry.

[ohma2]

Great pics.

[chamookman]

Way cool  - Bob.

[bjrogg]

Really cool pictures Jeff. I've got a few burned into my brain. A Chicken Hawk flying away with a chipmunk in its talons.
A redtail hawk swooping down and snatching a cottontail rabbit only to have it get away. Then snatching it two more times with the same results. The cottontail got away. It he had to be terribly wounded from the talons.
When my son was in the hospital for months and I'd watch hawks swoop down from the window ledges and snatch the rats living around the trash dumpster. Right in the middle of the city.
Bjrogg