A Warbler and the Hawks

 Louisiana Waterthrush is another rare bird to visit Tucson this August (2020). This bird breeds in the eastern United States and by fall returns to central America. Very rarely some stragglers are spotted in the southwestern United States, this is one of them. It was spotted fairly close to me and I decided to go have a look.

I arrived at the reported location by a small pond where it was supposed to be and I noticed quite a few Cooper's hawks exactly where the bird was supposed to be. That, to me, was a bad sign. With so many predators, there is no way the bird is going to come out. Worse, the hawks might have had the rare meat!

I decided to go closer to the hawks and see if I can spot the waterthrush. As I got close a few of the hawks flew away. To my surprise, the waterthrush flew in after a few mins and started foraging right under the nose of the hawks!

 

Louisiana Waterthrush

 

 

Surprisingly, the bird did not seem to scared of the hawks. It was also joined by some other warblers, including yellow warbler, while it was foraging alongside the water. Every now and then one of the juvenile hawks will fly towards these birds. Other warblers would fly away. The waterthrush would fly just out of the reach but will still not be too far. It will make some agitated calls to show displeasure at the hawk and will return to foraging fairly quickly. This happened a few times while I was there.

 

In the video below, you can see how close the bird was to the hawks while foraging. It also gives you an idea how close I was.  The hawk is sitting where the waterthush was moments ago.