Was a small hawk actually hunting squirrels in Walnut Creek?

DEAR JOAN: The last week or so, a hawk has been hunting the squirrels in our backyard in Walnut Creek. The hawk stalks them, flushes them out of the bushes and attacks from low altitude, so far with no success. The hunt has gone on for as long as 90 minutes. I am starting to feel sorry for him (although I am worried for the squirrels).

I am 90 percent sure this is one of our resident sharp-shinned hawks, possibly a juvenile, learning to hunt. My question is: has the menu changed? I thought sharp-shinned hawks only hunted birds, I didn’t know rodents were on the menu.

Another odd behavior from this same little hawk, he spent two mornings taking a shower in the sprinklers, running around in the spray, hopping around with wings spread.

— Madeleine Gallagher, Walnut Creek

DEAR MADELEINE: When a young bird of prey is learning to hunt, few things are off the menu. I have a friend who is a raptor expert, and she tells the story of having watched a desperately hungry juvenile attack a cow. A cow!

The typical diet of a sharp-shinned hawk is 90 percent small song birds, but the rest includes small rodents. A hungry juvenile might try to go after squirrels, or it could be that your bird actually is a Cooper’s hawk. They hunt medium-sized birds and rodents, so squirrels are definitely on their menu.

As for the cavorting, hawks prefer baths, but will use a sprinkler as a quick way to cool off in the heat.

DEAR JOAN: One night, one of my outdoor night-vision security cameras witnessed a large opossum dragging a dead baby skunk along the side of my home. The opossum left the smelly skunk under my slightly ajar bedroom window.

Soon after, I was awakened by the skunk stench, closed the window and called the wild animal department of my town. When they came to remove the dead animal, I relayed the story and they told me that opossums really don’t kill skunks.

So here’s the weird part, every night for the next five nights, the opossum has returned looking carefully for the skunk. What do you think is going on?

— Paul M., Palo Alto

DEAR PAUL: Skunks and opossums compete for the same territory and food sources, and they sometimes will have a kerfuffle over both, but it would be highly unlikely that one would kill the other.

Killing and eating, however, are two different things. While it’s not likely the opossum killed the baby skunk, it’s very likely it found the dead skunk and decided to eat it. Opossums, as are skunks, are omnivores, eating a variety of foods that they scavenge. Opossums also don’t mind the odor.

The opossum probably dragged its future meal to somewhere it felt safe, but either wasn’t hungry at the moment or was distracted away from the carcass. Before it could return, the body was removed. The smell, however, lingers, perhaps not so much to bother you, but enough that the opossum keeps showing up, hoping to find its supper. It will eventually, if it hasn’t already, stop looking and go back to its regular routine.

The Animal Life column runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.