Return of One Ear

Tom hadn't seen One Ear in a week or so but last time he did One Ear was looking pretty good so he wasn't too worried. Evening was coming and Tom had left enough food out there to feed two or three foxes but One Ear ate every single bit. One Ear still seems to have some pain in it's mouth somewhere but when One Ear first showed up it couldn't even keep the cat food down. Kind of looking like one ear and three quarters now.

Hiking

If There's a Sharp-shinned, There's a Way

Tom's mortal enemy the Red-eyed Sharp-shinned has been sitting in the top of the Cottonwood off and on since Tom returned from hiking and he's searching for a songbird meal. Despite an improved shoulder Tom still can't reach him with a rock or snowball. But, where there's a will, there's a way. There is actually video but it's one armed video again and a waste of time. Tom fills up the sink, takes out the Super Soaker and it's his sincere hope the Sharp-shinned enjoyed his morning shower. Tom did.

Evening

In Your Face

Tom has quit feeding the songbirds in the back yard as it's hard to track when predators are there so feeds them out front and on the side only now. After a few days of no Sharp-shinned, he's back and right in Tom's face. Spending most of his time at the top of the Cottonwood tree where Tom can't place a walkie talkie or with the still injured, but improving, shoulder throw a rock or snowball to scare him off. Yelling at him he simply thinks is amusing.

A Change Has Come

The Sharp-shinneds have not returned to the rear of the lodge. There has been no alert call from the Antelope Squirrels, there is no fresh hawk scat on the favored rock perches. The walkie talkie trick worked. The result though is the Sharp-shinned has a new strategy, a more dangerous one. It comes in low and fast from the east and west three or four times a day trying to catch a songbird right at lift off. It can't perch anywhere without being spotted so it just flies through on random chance. Sometimes there are songbirds there and sometimes not. Tom witnessed two near misses yesterday. With the Monday kill and what Tom saw earlier in Sharp-shinned collusion he was pretty sure that one Sharp-shinned had spooked the songbirds from the east to fly right into a kill from the west. But Tom has seen the Sharp-shinned on six or seven flybys now and can recognize him from his velocity alone. What hit the House finch on Monday and what just flew through here about ten minutes ago is three to four times as fast as the Sharp-shinned. There's a ghost out there. On the right side of the bush, might have to blow it up to see it. Tom sees the butcher for the first time in over two weeks. The Loggerhead Shrike and it's almost a relief compared to the last two days.

What Was That?

It was nice. Lot of snow. Tom could see the songbirds all morning across the driveway, pretty relaxed. They would run for cover occasionally but always a false alarm. A Cooper's hawk made a run at them around noon but generally he's too slow and Tom was out the door moments after he got there. Tom saw a Spotted skunk coming up on the porch for food so went outside to put food under the porch which is where he'd prefer to keep him. While delivering the cat food he could hear the far off cry of a Sharp-shinned. Way down in the creek bed 700 to 800 feet south of the lodge the cry got more furious. Retrieving the binoculars Tom could see three Sharp-shinneds in the top of an old Oak tree. One was talking to the other two and very animated about it. It was a spooky feeling. They're up to no good.

Tom sees songbirds coming from the east and coming hard and fast. Tom knows something is pushing them this way. Just as the songbirds across the driveway begin to lift up to join the retreat, something, dark and fast, blows in from the west. There is an explosion of feathers and it was gone. Tom is not even sure what he saw. Looking out the office window there are feathers still floating about four feet off the ground. Tom walks outside and finds twenty or so feathers from a male House finch. Something spooked them from the east and when they began to take off they got hit by something from the west. If Tom would have been standing out there even at point of contact, he couldn't have done anything about it. From the time the fast mover came into his sight from the west, thru the explosion of feathers to disappearing, was maybe two seconds, probably less.