I was able to photograph this incredible interaction of a Sharp-shinned Hawk attacking our local Steller's Jays in our yard. We have about 20 of them that show up daily for peanuts, and they sit in the trees on our five acres, watching for us to come out of the house. They will follow us around our trails waiting for my wife Kryz to toss out some peanuts. It is quite comical how fast they appear, seemingly out of nowhere!
Meet Steve! We named him... There are a couple of local Sharp-shinned Hawks that will land in the trees and wait for the opportunity to swoop down on the Steller's Jays. Each time there is total mayhem as they all scatter and try to evade the hawks.
Oddly after the hawks land in the trees, the jays go land in the same tree, and give them all kinds of grief. Until they get tired of it and attack them.
The action in our yard has been hot and heavy and using my OM-1 Mark II with a 40-150MM Telephoto lens, which on a 4;3 Camera is the reach of 80-300MM equivalent on a full frame, I was able to capture these images, using 50 frames per second shutter speeds, and fast reflexes to try to keep them in the frame and in focus. It is the hardest thing to capture I have ever encountered. The hawk erupts out of the trees in a tucked in position and then his agility kicks in with those impressive wings.
Here are a few of my favorite shots for you to see. Be sure to go to my main gallery on my web page under Birds in Raptors and also Various Birds to see more of my Raptors & Steller's Jays. Also be sure to Like and Follow my Facebook Page Keith's Frame Of Mind & on Instagram at Keith's Frame of Mind as well as YouTube
The next two images show a fast hard banking turn, as the jay tries to shake off the tail by looping around the stump. The next shot following shows just how badly that worked out!
There were a couple of shots, not in focus, as the hawk knocked the jay to the ground and rolled across him, but I was able to get this shot just as the jay was able to take off before becoming lunch!
I was told the Sharp-shinned Hawks will play with the Jays like a practice scrimmage, which does not make very much sense to me. Why waste so much energy doing this instead of hunting and easting?? Then after posing this question on a hawk FB page I was sent pictures of one eating a Jay. So that yells me these jays should be just a little more careful about harassing the Sharp-shinned Hawks.
I did not get a picture of the chase, but at the end of this photoshoot a Pileated Woodpecker showed up, and this little hawk went after him with a vengeance! Lots of air wars, slashing through the trees in circles, but the woodpecker evaded him. My guess is if he would have caught him he would have been pecked full of holes! Pileated Woodpeckers are big strong birds! Here is one in our yard.
I can tell you though, when our local Cooper's Hawk shows up, all the jays go very still and quiet, along with every other bird on our woods. We named our's Gary. Get it?? It is difficult to distinguish a Sharp-shinned hawk from a Cooper's Hawk, but Sharp-shinned are smaller, like the size of the jays, and when in flight the sharp-shinned's head is rather tucked into the body not extended in front of the shoulders. Their eyes are also set a little farther back in their heads. There are other differences too but those are what I look at. The Cooper's Hawk also has a more blocky looking head due to the head feather shape.
You can google All About Birds or Merlin ID for better explanations, but that is how I tell them apart! Hope you enjoyed this. Leave a comment if so and be sure to subscribe to my web site to see future blogs, and enjoy some of the others I have already on here! I do teach wildlife photography as well, and editing if interested.
What a phenomenal experience! Thank you so much for sharing it with us! So very cool!!
Angie
Thank you for all the knowledge and photos. What a exciting event to witness.
Thank you for your photos and discretion of the hawks, great photos ❤️😊
Wow! Such fantastic shots! Must be so exciting to watch the interaction between the birds. I know I would probably be too amazed to be able to get any shots off!
I really enjoyed your pictures and descriptions of the two hawks. Those jays had better be careful! They’re playing with their lives!