First Feederwatch count is down . . . and here's the reason

I scheduled our first Feederwatch count of the season for Tuesday and Wednesday this week. We haven't been seeing many birds lately, but I diligently cleaned and filled the feeders in great anticipation of the debut of our 15th year of counting.

Although our first counting period of each season (usually in the last 2 weeks of November) yields somewhat lower species and individual counts, I was annoyed that I was not seeing any birds frequenting our feeders for most of Tuesday afternoon and then again Wed. morning.

A quick glance out the front picture window at noon revealed the reason why:

This very large Cooper's hawk (very possibly a female) had positioned herself right above our suet and Bigtop feeders and was looking for lunch!

After about ten minutes of vigilance without results, she took off for our neighbor's yard, where she again parked herself on a branch right over his feeders.

We have also seen "her" two other days, perched in our trees, soaring through the yard or hopping around our dense evergreen bushes, but so far coming up empty!

Final (sparse) count: Carolina chickadee 3

Tufted Titmouse 2

House Finch 8

Junco 3

Mourning Dove 12

WB Nuthatch 2

Downy WP 2

Red-Bellied WP 1

WThroated Sparrow 2

House Sparrow 4

Cooper's Hawk 1

It could be a long winter for Feederwatch!