A Swimming Coopers Hawk at Whitby Harbour
January 22, 2012 - International, National and Local News
Tracy Simpson Reports:
All of my posts are peregrine related but this is a story that needs to be told. Frank and Idecided on a day of peregrine site checks with some birding in between and so we stopped in at Whitby harbour for a look-see. When we got out of the car, we were greeted by a Trumpter swan on the sidewalk which had Frank’s attention while I quickly scanned the water. I heard a splash, caught some movement and approximately 30 feet from the shore, a dark figure in the water was flailing about as if in distress. I put up my binoculars to get a good look only to see a female Coopers hawk, latched on to a gull, attempting to swim to shore with its kill.
I called to Frank and drew his attention to the near drowning hawk. The hawk continued to try and take the kill to shore but she was soaked, freezing and losing the battle. She started to sink. We pieced together that the bird caught the gull by surprise and the momentum and weight of the prey took them both into the water. I started to try and calculate how deep the water was and the strength of the current as I really considered going in after it. Just then it let go and burst out of the water just barely making it to the shore. Thank godness that it did as I was heading into the water and didn’t really want to in the middle of January. We watched the bird as it sat on a low branch over the water and the bird was actually thinking about going back after the gull as it was now floating towards it. The bird finally made for shore and after the chill really got to it, the bird flew across the road and into a tree. By the time we left, the bird was almost completely dry and was resting in the sun. It would seem that this weekend, Frank and I were destined to see things that either of us would have never believed otherwise!
High and dry is where she plans to stay for the night. No more swimming in winter!!