Wondered why the birds stopped coming to the birdfeeder....

[Midnight Lady]

And then we saw the reason why....



http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg186/marchbirthdays/hawk.jpg

[Lawn Jockey]

:eek:

:worried

I'm not even sure I'd refill the feeder with him/her there.

:drink

[scottlr]

Nah, they just go through cycles all year. There's a time in mid summer they slow way down, too. Once winter sets in, and if you fill that feeder, they'll be back. We still have a few takers, and in fact, the woodpeckers and nuthatches have returned. The hawks can have all of the house sparrows they want. If I had a way to give them to the hawks, I would!

[jaycee]

What are you talking about, that's a bird. :o

[donnyjaguar]

Before I opened this thread I was gonna say, there's a predator in view, or earshot.

[pir8matt]

It's still a 'bird feeder', you're just feeding a larger bird now. :)


Theres a big tree across the street from my house where mourning doves hang out (the guy who lives there has a birdbath and puts out seed), and a red shoulder hawk swoops in several times a day, causing them to scatter (and usually chasing one unlucky one out).

So its kind of a 'bird feeder' too, on a couple levels.

[BluesForDan]

I have a friend for whom I housesit most every year during their annual late winter trip to Florida. Their backyard is a bird sanctuary, with about 30 bird feeders of every kind, seriously. You've never seen so many fat squirrels in one place in your life. They also have an outdoor hot tub, which I partake in every opportunity I can.

One day, I was sitting in the tub, when I felt something fly right by my head, close enough to move my hair. Then a loud thud from a nearby window. A hawk had chased a dove right into the plate glass window of the nearby breakfast nook. As I watched in transfixed amazement, the hawk settled down for its meal, with me only 12 feet away.

When I told my friend about it, he said "Yes, they've perfected that into an art form. A couple times a week, you'll be sitting in the house (or tub) and hear that loud smack, and know that the hawks have scored another meal." You can see the outline of the birds on the glass, from the oils on their feathers.:eek:

That doesn't include the others that get taken out in the open. Many times I get up in the morning and find the tell-tale red spots on the snow with a few feathers around the kill site.

Doesn't stop the birds from using the feeders, though. Law of the Serengeti applies everywhere, it appears. They also have owls, foxes, raccoons and goodness knows what else. Their backyard opens into a multiple-hundred acre undeveloped zone very near the center of Manchvegas, NH.

[Tonefish]

talk about PWNED!!!!

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg186/marchbirthdays/hawk.jpg

[Midnight Lady]

Blues for Dan, that's quite a story. Sittin' in the tub watching the food chain at work. Wow.

Scott(lr), I agree about the sparrows. I wouldn't feed them to the hawk, but if that was what he was picking off - ok.

pir8matt - I didn't realize mourning doves were such a delectable treat. We DO have a few families of them around here. They're easy prey because they prefer feeding on the ground and they're slow to take off.

I'm just hoping he's not taking the pretty finches or nuthatches or woodpeckers or bluebirds... we've been encouraging those.

[pir8matt]

pir8matt - I didn't realize mourning doves were such a delectable treat. We DO have a few families of them around here. They're easy prey because they prefer feeding on the ground and they're slow to take off.


I can't vouch for their tastiness, but I do see little 'puffs' of feathers outside pretty regularly, I guess from when the hawks actually make contact with them. They're actually pretty quick, but their luck only holds out for so long, I guess.

We have a great variety of birds of prey in this area. Red shoulders, Peregrine Falcons, Ospreys, Eagles, etc. And of course then there are the blue jays, cardinals, and even wild parakeets, that have been growing in number.

[brlfq]

Blues for Dan, that's quite a story. Sittin' in the tub watching the food chain at work. Wow.

Scott(lr), I agree about the sparrows. I wouldn't feed them to the hawk, but if that was what he was picking off - ok.

pir8matt - I didn't realize mourning doves were such a delectable treat. We DO have a few families of them around here. They're easy prey because they prefer feeding on the ground and they're slow to take off.

I'm just hoping he's not taking the pretty finches or nuthatches or woodpeckers or bluebirds... we've been encouraging those.

There isn't much better on Earth than mourning doves slow cooked in a brown gravy then served over warm buttermilk biscuits!

[Tonekat]

I was told that mourning doves are the "dumb blondes" of the bird world. I would come home and find a pile of feathers in the back yard, and know that there was another hawk strike on a hapless dove who was paying more attention to the food on the ground than the hawk watching it from the fence.

I wish they'd pick off the starlings that are such a nuisance.

When I had my cat, Alex, he and I watched a Pigeon Hawk dive into the neighbor's yard. He went running over and stole the prey, for which he was scolded.

Birds of Prey rock! Once, I got to take a group lesson in falconry at the Equinox Hotel in Manchester, VT. They used Harris Hawks, because they got along with people very well. The Hotel had some other birds too, and all the hawks had their own stall in an old stable, that was a lot of fun. You can actually sign up to take hunting walks in the woods with the instructor with a Hawk on your arm.

[telecopter]

I had one of those too. It actually dived at my little dog. I got rid of the feeder.

[Midnight Lady]

I had one of those too. It actually dived at my little dog. I got rid of the feeder.I was thinking that. Glad there aren't any puppies or kittens here!!!

[Midnight Lady]

Another thought -- there are families of rabbits living at the back of our yard -- the hawk must think of our yard as the "Indiana Smorgasbord"

[RichieRich]

theyre at walmart trampling each other to death.

[smiert spionam]

Nice catch. Looks like a young Cooper's hawk or a sharp-shinned. Heckuva machine.

[scottlr]

We've had little dogs for the last 15 years. So far, I have never seen anything attack them except sparrows and robins, if they got too close to a nesting area. It always crosses my mind, though. Every winter, a bald eagle likes to hang out behind our house. That thing could make off with a cocker spaniel! We have lots of different hawks, but the red tailed is the one I see most often at home. There's also a wide variety of owls. Tons of rabbits for them to munch on, too.

[cottoneyedjoe]

Love hawks. We have two in residence around my house. The Civil War battlefield down the road (Petersburg) has a family of eagles!

The hawks eat squirrels. Seeing them dive to pick one up is amazing. Makes me want lunch.

[thewhit]

Great picture. I looked out the window here in the Santa Cruz Mountains 3 days ago and a Red Tailed Hawk was sitting on my deck railing. Usually they are in trees or in flight. I was torn between watching and going for the camera and settled for watching.

The night before a large owl flew over and I knew it was coming by the sound of it's wings. Nature rules.

[Suproman77]

That thing is cool.

[wstsidela]

Daaaamn!!! What's in that feeder? Dead mice?

[Ldavey]

Love hawks. We have two in residence around my house. The Civil War battlefield down the road (Petersburg) has a family of eagles!

The hawks eat squirrels. Seeing them dive to pick one up is amazing. Makes me want lunch.

Pretty impressive pic of large bird on prey top of bird feeder.
See those things swooping through the woods near a county trail I walk on with the dog (55 lbs.), they're quite the fliers as they zip between the trees.

Hey c.e.joe, you're near the Crater battlefield in Petersburg?

Larry

[scottlr]

As cool and bad-ass as they are, they are quite shy. At least as far as humans go. Usually, if they see you watching them, they split. I have a 20 mile commute to class every day, and almost all of it is countryside. We have an abundance of hawks here. I see them every day. But every time I have the camera with me, as soon as I stop to get a shot, they flee. As cruel as they seem, if I had to be a bird, I'd want to be a raptor! And not just because they at the top of their food chain... though that helps :D

[Gavin]

Maybe you didn't read the directions. You need to put some kind of bird seed in the feeder. Otherwise you've got some wood and plastic on a pole.....not very inviting for a bird.:NUTS











:)

[Flyin' Brian]

Maybe you didn't read the directions. You need to put some kind of bird seed in the feeder. Otherwise you've got some wood and plastic on a pole.....not very inviting for a bird.:NUTS

LOL!!!!! Actually I was on the way out the door to fill it when it landed otherwise we might have missed it.

[jefesq]

wife is a bit of a bird feeder type. Lots of everything in the back yard by the feeders. The computer monitor is next to the window that looks out on the back yard. I'm sitting here typing away when I see something out of the corner of my eye. I look up and there's a red-tailed hawk sitting on the fence just outside the window less than three feet away looking at me. Made for an interesting 15 minutes or so.

[UndergroundVint]

When I had my cat, Alex, he and I watched a Pigeon Hawk dive into the neighbor's yard. He went running over and stole the prey, for which he was scolded.




What's a pigeon hawk?

[Deacon]

That bird is obviously not big on subtlety.

:messedup

[Craig Walker]

That'd do it.

[Tonekat]

What's a pigeon hawk?

A.K.A. a Merlin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(bird))

[daddyo]

My bird feeder turned into a cat feeder :D

[mcknigs]

First time I ever saw a bald eagle in the wild was when one was diving on hummingbirds at a feeder just outside the picture window of the family cabin in Minnesota. Closer to home, We were once having breakfast on our screened back porch and saw a red-tailed hawk land on a snake and start eating it, about 5 feet away outside the porch.

-Scott