Mystery Solved

It's the third straight day of rain. Not a hard rain but a consistent one. Twice I saw a Sharp-shinned come in low over the road by disc golf hole four and charge into the Tiffany's One feeding area. Landing exactly where the Eurasian dove feathers were left over. I should have known it was a male Sharp-shinned. The area that the feathers were in where the dove was devoured is not tall enough for a female Sharp-shinned to stand up or a male or female Cooper's hawk. There were no Eurasian doves present at the time, only songbirds, who all quickly fled or went into the bushes where the male Sharp-shinned is too large to get in. Just a little while ago I saw large bird on a fence post way on top of the hill. Getting out the binoculars I could see it was the male Sharp-shinned. He watched for a half hour or so with nobody seeming to notice he was up there. Then I realized with the rain the birds were out but few White-tailed antelope squirrels who are the early warning system around the property for predators. At the end of a half hour or so a lone Eurasian dove landed at the feeding area and walked over to the spot where the Sharp-shinned got the other one a few days ago. I looked up on the hill and saw the Sharp-shinned fly off in the opposite direction. I was relieved but as soon as he took off Tiffany's went vacant with all the songbirds and the lone Eurasian dove departing or going deep into the bush. About 30 seconds later the Sharp-shinned arrived to an empty feeding area. It was brilliant. He had departed the other direction but then dropped down below the cliffs and came in quick over the road which had worked for him before. So his misdirection while a brilliant move to me was old hat to everyone else. They had seen it before.