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Hawks/Owls as Cavity Nesters or as Problems on the Bluebird Trail (Part 3)Also see Kestrels as Cavity Nesters or Predators of Other Cavity Nesters. In addition to Messages that have appeared in the Bluebird Mailing Lists on this topic, the following are on the Audubon Society of Omaha website: Predators and Problems On The Bluebird Trail From: Laurie Spence [mailto:mrsgbs3"at"hughes.net] Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 12:14 PM Subject: Killer Hawk I know bird feeders, baths, etc. provide hawks with feeding opportunities, but I have never witnessed it - until today. It was horrible. I was so close I could have stopped it from happening if it hadn’t happened so fast. A titmouse was flying from a tree to the feeder and from out of nowhere the hawk appeared. The titmouse turned around to go back to the tree but the hawk was too fast. As the hawk flew away I could hear the titmouse crying. It was (still is) so What can I do to prevent this? I know hawks have to eat, but not my birds!! ~Laurie from Southern Maryland From: happywebl"at"comcast.net [mailto:happywebl"at"comcast.net] It is very upsetting, but it happens to all of us who feed the birds. If you stop feeding, the birds will eventually leave your yard and the hawk will go somewhere else. I had a sharp-shinned hawk, (juvenile) who camped on my fence most of one summer and fall preying on the finches. I chased him when I saw him there, but there were times when he managed to take a bird or two. Eventually he matured and left the area. I saw a sharpie on my fence here today, for the first time, but the finches saw him first and left. Not much you can do, except stop feeding. Barbara in Cloverdale, CA From: rdb2006"at"verizon.net [mailto:rdb2006"at"verizon.net] I agree... it's not exactly a fun thing to watch at your feeder. The Raptor Center in Minnesota offers a few suggestions: http://www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu/raptor/education/faqs/hawkspreying/home.html --rudy in maryland From: denisefarmer"at"comcast.net [mailto:denisefarmer"at"comcast.net] Laurie, I had hawks coming to my feeders as well and what I did was build the Arbor (if you recall it) and I have a Virginia creeper growing up the arbor. This keeps the hawk away since he cannot fit into the spaces of the arbor unless he circles around the front of it where I walk in to feed. Plus all of my feeders are in wire cages so if the hawk did get in, he would have to get through that as well before snatching up a bird, which isn't easy. Since I did this, I have not had a hawk problem at all. The hawks used to brazenly sit on my deck rail waiting for the birds, now I rarely see one except flying high over head. So if your feeders are in the yard, you could get an arbor that you can walk through, plant a climbing plant on that and protect your birds that way. Denise From: Robert Barron [mailto:rebarron"at"gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 8:54 PM Subject: Re: Killer Hawk Hi Laurie,
Nature is tough, but beautiful. I too lost a Tufted titmouse to a Coopers Hawk, but the Coopers Hawk was one of the most beautiful and majestic birds I have ever seen and it let me get a lot of good photos.
Nature finds a balance. That hawk will probably eat its fair share of starlings and House Sparrows. I would just watch and enjoy the power of nature. Hawks will never cause Tufted-titmouse extinctions. Humans are a much greater risk. Hawks are made to be efficient killers, but a high percentage of juveniles die of starvation. The titmose that fed that hawk wasn't the most wary, strongest, or something. I might have starved to death or frozen this winter. Instead, that titmouse passed its energy up the food chain to a noble and native bird. That's the way its supposed to work. You can turn away and hide from the "unpleasant" aspects of nature, or see it for what it is. It's a bird eat bird world out there for a lot of birds.
I hope I don't sound too cold, dispassionate or cruel.
Take care,
Rob Barron From: Autumn L. Kruer [mailto:autumnk"at"iglou.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 1:20 AM Subject: Killer hawk Why I don’t put out feeders. I spread feed out in rotating places on the ground because I was just sick over setting up songbirds for an easy hunt for the hawks. I got to feeling like I was dooming them. The hawks have to eat, too, but I’m not providing them easy pickin’s. Autumn in Kentucky From: Schneid, Kurt J LRB [mailto:KURT.J.SCHNEID"at"lrb01.usace.army.mil] The mourning doves in my yard are the prey most taken by the predator birds in the area, however I view it as part of the food chain and would not think of trying to prevent it. I am surprised the hawk would go for something as small as a titmouse. The worst thing I witnessed happened this year, a Robin had a brood in her nest snuggled in a thick shrub on the property line between ours and the neighbor downhill. An American Crow was in the yard being harassed by not only the Robins but also some Blue Jays, which were seemingly attempting to help ward off the Crow who worked for several minutes to get into the shrub enough to snatch one of the young out of the nest to have as a snack. Kurt From: Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper"at"bayou.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 7:22 AM Subject: RE: Killer hawk I too feed the seed eating birds on the ground. The bluebirds come to their feeder, peck on the peanut butter ball a little, get a raisin and are gone. I have never seen a larger bird take one while they were eating. I am certain the Hawks are more interested in the zillion snakes and over abundance of squirrels here. Evelyn Delhi, LA From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 8:36 AM Subject: Re: Killer hawk? Maybe it is just hungry Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
I like to feed birds on the ground under and around evergreens or thorny bushes, where they can zip into cover easily. Rose bushes, especially the old fashioned bush types that spread from roots making a thicket are good cover. In the south there is a cold hardy "orange" bush with massive thorns called Trifoliatta (sp) that will eventually get about 15 feet tall and be covered in golf ball sized orange fruit in fall. If your property is newly cleared or your landscape plants are small you can create habitat by building a thicket with evergreen branches or small trees cut out by landscape companies. A large clump of Yucca is also good cover as are blackberries or raspberries if the area is about 10 foot by 10 foot. You can build a brush pile and plant morning glories, gourds or night blooming moon flower vines on it to hide it till your first freeze.
You have to remember that just as bluebirds need to eat insects or fruit each day and the finches need to feed on seeds that these Cooper and Sharp Shin hawks ARE going to eat some type of bird today! (Would someone ask their local rehabber how often and how much a hawk or owl needs to eat that is not actively flying in their cages?)
Sandy and I watched a hummingbird last week "hawking" for insects. A swarm of midges or gnats were all balled up breeding and the hummer would fly up to the mass of flying insects and jab and poke into the swarm with it's bill just as if it were a swordsman dueling with it's reflection in a mirror. Later in the day several species of Dragon Flies were attacking the insects coming out of my compost pile. They darted and bounced around in the air chasing tiny flies like a ball in a pinball machine.
Someone mentioned doves being a prime target for the Cooper Hawk. About 15 years ago the small Inca Doves moved up into Northeast Texas and are breeding and very numerous. About 4 years ago the Eurasian Collared Doves began breeding and are now numerous in our area of the state. We also have lots of the Mourning Doves and in some areas the domestic Ring Necked Doves are surviving in the wild and of course pigeons. Now when you see a nest that a Dove makes out of a handful of twigs and you can look right up through the bottom of the nest and count the eggs you HAVE to wonder if doves can hatch out their eggs out in the wild in such pitiful nests that we should NOT have to worry about bluebirds being able to keep their eggs warm enough to hatch in a nestbox:-)!
I heard a flock of bluebirds sailing over yesterday morning about 9:30 AM, they were flying west to east. They call to each other with about every other wing beat and it seems like such a sad, mournful song at this time of the year. They fly several hundred feet above the trees and are often scattered out in a loose flock several hundred feet wide even for just 20 or 30 birds. They fly so slow and migrate during the day light hours that they seem like the perfect target for the hawks that feed on birds. It would be interesting for those out watching for birds to observe the times when you see these flocks of bluebirds shifting or making mini migrations in your area between feeding areas. I wonder if the bluebirds feed early in the mornings and have learned to wait for the hawks to catch an early meal or maybe they also fly just high enough to avoid the Cooper and Sharp Shinned Hawks that are lurking in the trees trying to ambush ground feeding birds. It would be hard for a Cooper Hawk to leave an ambush perch in a tree, gain 300 feet of altitude and then attack the bluebirds before they scattered.
Warblers, kinglets and various species of field sparrows on the other hand seem to migrate through open farmland and forests at or below the canopy of the tree tops making them prime targets for ambush from a hawk perched in a tree. KK
From: Linda Ruth [mailto:lindaruth"at"earthlink.net]
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 12:45 AM Subject: Re: Killer hawk? Maybe it is just hungry Hello everyone!
The Cooper's hawks in my neighborhood definitely like mourning doves. The Sharpies, on the other hand, seem to like chickadees. Although it isn't pretty to watch, it is part of life, and I find the raptors just as interesting as their prey. At least their bodies are recycled rather than rotting in a sealed "vermin-proof" vault.
Actually, I think I lose more birds hitting my windows while trying to escape a diving hawk than are actually killed by the hawks. The usual things that keep birds from hitting windows (like the hawk decals) don't work when a panicking bird is fleeing a real live hawk. I also get a kick out of watching "my" red-shouldered hawk hunt rodents from his perch on top of one of the feeders. I've never seen him take a bird, although they are known to do so, but he sure does like the mice and voles that come for the spilled seed.
I have a question for those who feed on the ground near cover. Don't you have problems with cats and other mammalian predators? Cover hides the predators as well as the birds. I've always been told that the food should be far enough away from the thickets that a cat can't get there with a single leap. In most suburban areas, I would think that cats kill more birds than hawks do.
The video clip was interesting. I can imagine the sound track to go with it. "What's the matter with you, bringing home that big ugly thing. You know the kids won't eat those disgusting hornworms- now take that back where you found it and get us some nice mealworms!" Are those Mountain bluebirds?
Linda Ruth
Coventry, CT
From: Evelyn Cooper [mailto:emcooper"at"bayou.com] I do have lots of squirrels, but there is no problem. I have seen bluebirds team up and chase them away. Evelyn From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 8:05 AM Subject: Re: Killer hawk? Maybe it is just hungry Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas
We have few cats roaming on our acreage and problem cats without collars are live trapped and taken to the animal shelter. We planted several hundred Virginia Pines in shelter belts around the property back in 1985. They hold their limbs all the way to the ground and were planted by the millions across small Texas farms for the local Christmas tree market which never really developed. After 20 years these trees out in the open make a huge ball about 25 feet tall and 30 feet wide or so. With their limb structure of dead and living branches they make the perfect protection from Hawks while being relatively open near the ground making it harder for a cat to attack feeding birds.
I am not a big fan of pine trees for wildlife since while alive they provide little food value except for seeds in the cones. There are limited species of insects that feed on pine needles. Large tracts of monoculture pine have few understory fruit or berry producing bushes, vines or trees living under a solid evergreen canopy. Virginia Pines in this area are short lived. We planted four rows of 33 Virginia Pine trees across the back section of our neighbors open field and after 20 years we were down to 19 living trees this spring and lost four of the 19 again this dry summer to pine bark beetles.
It also seems to help to feed in different places almost everyday (easier if you have lots of property) and scatter the seeds thinner so the birds are not coming back to the same one square foot or so like with bird feeders. Mockingbirds also attack cats and hawks in their territory.
Think about natural foods from a patch of weeds, grass or a berry producing tree or bush that ground feeding birds utilize. Seldom will you see huge fields of one single species. What you have is one plant that will ripen it's seeds or fruit and wildlife will strip that plant as soon as they ripen and move off in search of another feeding spot. Watch where your birds travel when they leave your feeder while going to shelter and water ETC. and you can scatter feed along this route. You also get exercise walking even around the edge of your yard a couple of times a day:-)) KK
From: happywebl"at"comcast.net [mailto:happywebl"at"comcast.net] The sharpies that have come to my yards are after the finches that feed at my thistle seed feeder. The finches are pretty fast, and I do provide cover for them in the form of low-growing rose bushes and small trees. The cats won't go under the roses, so that's a plus. However, I have had a couple of the birds taken by hawks. I've found that mourning doves are frequently killed by cats. They are always on the ground and are slow to take off. It's a wonder there are any of them left! I think cats kill more birds than hawks, at least in my area. I've always had "inside" cats, when I've had cats. They are never sick until they get very old, and don't get injured in fights like the free-roaming cats in our neighborhood. I wish I could figure out a way to keep the neighborhood cats out of my yard!. I mount my feeders and nestboxes very high and away from our 6' fence, but they love to come in the yard when I'm not out there, and use my mulch and flowerboxes for litter pans. I also see them stalking the birds at the feeders, and when I do see them, I chase them off. I had one of those power-shooter water guns once, and that worked well, but I had to spend a lot of time watching and waiting for a good shot. Too bad that when the house cat was designed, bird-stalking wasn't bred out of it. BTW, I have a 16.5 year old Scottish fold that my husband bought. She had been in a cattery until she was about 3 months old and she has never shown any interest in hunting. It's the only cat I've ever met that is like this, and I wonder if it is because she was never taught to hunt as a kitten? She doesn't even look at the birds or butterflies, which always fascinate other cats. Predation is always going to be a problem, but I try to find ways to give the birds a fighting chance. Barbara in Cloverdale, CA From: Lawrence Herbert [mailto:lherbert"at"4state.com] ...Linda and bluebirdsters... From: roy pischer [mailto:tlp4456"at"msn.com] And our resident Cooper's Hawk prefers doves! Trudy Pischer From: bobanna [mailto:bobanna2 "at"earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 10:18 AM Subject: Need advice on box placement I would like to create a small trail in my neighborhood, 5-10 boxes. I have had bluebirds nest in my backyard for 2 years now and I see many more in the area. There is an area 3 houses down with water, open land (for a neighborhood), bush and scrub, and dead pine and Cyprus trees standing. This area is next to a strip of woods. I think 1-3 boxes could go in this area but here’s the question: Cooper and Red-shouldered hawks sit in those dead trees on a regular basis, would I be setting the birds up for certain death? The houses in our community are really close together and the lots are small so I don’t feel very comfortable asking folks to allow me to monitor in their backyard. One of the Cooper hawks has eaten 2 doves in my backyard. On the other hand, a pair of woodpeckers raised a clutch in one of the dead trees this summer and both parents survived. The hawks do know when the babies from my backyard are fledging and they watch the babies like a hawk J. But I have never seen them go after one and I have seen all but one of the 5 broods fledge. The bluebirds raised in my backyard do not hang out there after fledging. They fly directly to one of two strips of woods around our neighborhood and I rarely see them again. I hear them all the time. So the position in question is much closer to these woods. What do you think? Anna Bianchi. Tampa, FL From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder "at"sbcglobal.net] Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas ... Red shouldered, Red Tailed Hawks, Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls ETC are FAR more interested in catching snakes and young raccoons or skunks than they are in eating small cavity nesters. You might want to provide hunting perches for some raptors if you have a rodent problem or want them to thin out the snakes on your property naturally. Of course skunks and raccoons relish killing and eating snakes also and often raid nests of turtle eggs or the eggs of snakes. KK From: geochelone "at"aol.com [mailto:geochelone "at"aol.com] ....If there is a hawk watching at the moment they fledge, this may be a problem, but I'd prefer to have the cavity available rather than to have birds not able to find any nesting sites nearby. From: Keith & Sandy Kridler [mailto:txbluebirder"at"sbcglobal.net] Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant, Texas very warm 64*F over night A couple of days ago a flock of about 15 bluebirds was flying over our farm when they began giving out the warning calls of a predator. I watched them begin to hover and circle around a very small area which was strange because they were really almost out of sight they were so high. Then a Cooper Hawk came streaking out of the east heading due west and passed under the flock of bluebirds by about 75 feet. The hawk turned as it zipped over my shop and caught a thermal and began rapidly flapping it's wings gaining altitude in a tight spiral. I was trying to watch the bluebirds and the hawk at the same time. I was seeing a race between the flock of bluebirds and the hawk trying to be the first to gain the advantage of height. The bluebirds were flying almost like a group of butterflies as they stayed in the same general area beating the air furiously climbing almost straight up while the hawk looked like it was racing around an invisible spiral stairway to the clouds. It might have been an accident or by chance but the hawk was climbing so that the sun was going to be directly behind him/her when it was ready to make an attack on the now frantic bluebirds. I was blinded by the sun every time I turned to look between the flock and the hawk and before I really noticed the bluebirds simply disappeared either off to the north or down into our thick stand of Virginia Pines. They quit calling out and then vanished. The Cooper Hawk topped out and soared around more calmly now as it too seemed to have lost focus and silently dipped a wing and sliced through the air on further south and west and disappeared quickly behind the tree line just off of our property. When you see something like this you realize that life for small creatures is perilous at best. This whole event lasted only a minute or two but I wonder what the outcome would have been had the hawk held the high ground to begin its attack. It has been so warm the past couple of weeks we have been sleeping with the windows open. It is strange to not hear any birds singing at night or at least not filling the pre dawn air with their songs as they do in springtime. We have to be content listening to a melody of crickets and katydids but even these will become silent as the temperatures drop later this week. KK From: Torrey [mailto:torrey_canyon"at"yahoo.com] Steve's story of House Sparrows using the left-over Christmas tree on his porch is very reminiscent of the HOSP "invasion" of the feeders here at work. Until there was a nearby brush pile, we got very few House Sparrows here at the Research office. We still have other ground feeders -- juncos, cardinals, & native sparrows -- but now we have flocks of House Sparrows too. I'd be very interested to know if the House Sparrows hang aroung after the tree is gone. As an additional brush pile story, last week a young female Cooper's Hawk (you can tell by size & plumage) visited our feeders. She obviously could hear the little birds sheltering in the brush pile. She must have been very hungry since she hopped right into the brush. A couple birds did fly out but most held tight Torrey Wenger From: Steve and Cindy Groene [mailto:hausgroene"at"comcast.net] Torrey- I have a Cooper's who has been hanging around for several years now (at least I assume it's the same one). You won't believe the height to which this bird will go to get a smaller bird. I've seen them go right in fir and spruce trees 'chasing' the bird they set their eye on, winter or summer. They don't give up easily and they can maneuver in all kinds of brush and thick trees to get their meal. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen frequently from my kitchen window. Cindy Groene From: Robert Barron [mailto:rebarron"at"gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 7:17 PM Subject: Re: OT Cooper's ....
She did a job on the mourning doves, but got a few Tufted Titmouse (mice) also. She was a pretty good hunter, but one day she swooped after a Brown-headed Nuthatch that tried to hide in an Azalea bush and missed and knocked over a 30 gallon plastic garbage can and then ended up in my Coleman canvas camp chair side down. She was highly embarrassed, and spent a half hour on the arm off my bird feeder post I hung finch feeders from, preening her feathers and regaining her composure.
I think I posted some blah blah blah red herring links to some scientific research about the percentage of juvenile Cooper's and Sharp-Shinned Hawks that upon necropsy, had healed carina fractures. Hunting is tough for hawks, and personally, I love to see them eat too.
I'd be curious what other people have witnessed. Flocking behavior is definitely a predator avoidance technique, whether it's a flock of starlings, a herd of Bison, a school of fish, or, a bunch of Musk Oxen circled rubbing rumps. I don't think House Sparrows really form flocks or join other flocks, but I've never seen any raptor catch or eat one. Even my snakes would eventually regurgitate them. They must smell and taste like fertilizer, french fries, and lawn chemicals from big box stores.
Rob Barron, Fredericksburg, VA From: rdb2006"at"verizon.net [mailto:rdb2006"at"verizon.net] Hi Rob, I checked but didn't find any HS or ES eating out of anyone's hand. I was surprised at the number of starling videos on Youtube. Here's one of a House sparrow being re-cycled by a Sharp-shinned Hawk taken in someone's backyard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6ZMJwoo8zc&mode=related&search= enjoy, --rudy From: Bet Zimmerman [mailto:ezdz"at"charter.net]
http://www.sialis.org/picture.htm
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 1:35 PM Subject: Picture of the week - sharp-shinned hawk feeding on starling A photo of a sharp-shinned hawk (I think) feeding on a dead starling. They are listed in endangered by the State of CT. Bet from CT From: happywebl"at"comcast.net [mailto:happywebl"at"comcast.net] We have a sharp-shinned that visits regularly and snatches birds from the feeders. They are fairly common in our area, and I enjoy all of the hawks we have around. I do wish they would feed at someone else's bird feeders, though! The other day it was gloomy and raining very hard, and the sharpie took a tiny hummingbird from the nectar feeder! I was surprised -- couldn't be more than two bites of food there. Nice photo, Bet. Barbara in Cloverdale, CA From: Perez Veronica [mailto:v_perez11 "at"yahoo.com] I saw the weirdest thing this morning. I was looking through my bedroom window to see if the bluebird pair was waiting for their mealies on the deck. I was aghast to see a sharp-shinned hawk crouched low running on the mulch as if stalking a prey. I thought they just swoop in to catch their prey not stalk them like a cat. I ran outside to shoo him away... Veronica |
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