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Short and Helpful Blog Notes - Hawks
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Hungry Hawks at Our Pond
 2/17/08
Three red-shouldered hawks have taken residence with us each winter and are present most of the year because they love our pond which is a steady supply of frogs. Several predator birds have targeted our goldfinches in 2009. Red-shouldered, Sharp-shinned and American Kestrels have buzzed our picture window bird feeder. One sharp-shinned hawk took a goldfinch 2 inches from my nose once day. How it slowed enough to pluck the bird out of the air, miss hitting the window, turn about and be half way back to the oaks cross the yard during the time it took me to blink will always remain a mystery of nature.
Can big hawks take my small dog or cat?
3/16/09
Great Horned owls present the biggest danger in a typical backyard scenario. The biggest prey for most hawks would be jackrabbits of which we have plenty. Whether or not hawks would present a problem becomes irrelevant when great horned owls are around. They hunt during the day or night. They are powerful, fearless hunters and are known to take animals as large as skunks. We have created a covered play area for our small mini-dachshund. More about owls here.
Sharp-shinned Hawk and an American Goldfinch
New Years
We have a very busy goldfinch feeders near my computer station. This feeder which holds 24 goldfinches and pine siskins at once was particularly busy today. One goldfinch came in hoping to find an open perch when the other birds scattered. This little bird began to scrape at the window lightly with its bill. I got up to go to the window and had just gotten about 3 inches from the bird when I realized that there was some unidentified movement to my front left about 12 feet away. I blinked in a startled manner and when I opened my eyes I saw the back view of a sharp-shinned "bullet" heading back to some oak trees with the goldfinch clutched beneath. I will never forget how that sharp-shinned hawk approached the window so swiftly, slowed to snatch the bird without colliding with the window and was already nearly half way back to the trees before my eyes opened. It was very hard to comprehend the speed and skill of that amazing hawk. The pain of losing that goldfinch still breaks my heart. The abilities of the hawk still astound me.
Red-shouldered Hawk Daily Visits
4/23/08
We have one to three red-shouldered hawks most of the year at our backyard pond. Luckily we have established enough of a frog habitat to keep a pond full of frogs while the hawks prey on the frogs relentlessly. Since we greatly appreciate both species, it is always bittersweet to see this predation. We do what we can to give the frogs a fighting chance of survival but the hawks have a very steady buffet at our pond. The frogs begin calling as early as February and we know the hawks are close by. The hawks often spend hours watching the pond from various observation locations. Sometimes they even use our tallest bird feeder pole. They watch the water of the pond and we always fear they will grab a koi but that hasn't happened yet. They have a routine with the frogs, always taking them up to the same tree branch to eat.
Snakes don't make it very far into our yard. The blackberry patch is where we usually see one of these hawk grab a snake. We always rush outside to try to identify the snake species but have never succeeded yet. The hawks move farther away with their snake dinners.
Protect Your Backyard Birds
5/5/07
Although you can not fully protect your backyard feeder birds, you can do a few things to avoid dangerous situations. Make sure your feeders are placed where the birds have good escape routes. Dense vegetation close by can make the difference between life and death. Different hawks have different approach methods. Ours mostly approach from a power flight in a horizontal position whipping around barriers in a surprise assault. They drop almost straight down on frogs but they know that isn't going to easy on a flock of birds. The smaller winged predators (kestrels and sharp-shinned hawks) come and go within a blink of the eye.
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