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Posted by Jeff Weber on 11:06:33 09/02/07
While sitting on my back porch having coffee this morning, I was surprised to see an immature Cooper's Hawk land on a cabbage palm frond, not 30 ft from me. It bounced around the tree, bobbing and weaving, intent on getting closer to something near the center of the fronds. It turned out to be a squirrel that held the hawk's interest - a very alert squirrel that kept dodging back and forth, placing leaf bases between itself and the hawk. This went on for about 10 minutes, with the bird lunging and the rodent ducking in and out. Finally, the hawk gave up and flew off. The relieved squirrel dropped to the trunk and stayed there for some time, its sides heaving. Lucky little fella. One of his relatives was not so lucky, as I later found a squirrel dead on the grass about 50 ft away - probably an earlier victim of the hawk, though curiously uneaten.
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