Unusual hawk experience, no fatalities

[Callender Girl]

I thought I heard a wild bird in distress this morning, and something moved underneath a weeping willow. By the time I got to the tree, whatever had been under it was gone. I heard the distress call again and scanned the landscape but couldn't see a bird anywhere.

As I was heading back to the house, a hawk flew low past me, and I realized it was holding something in its talons. I yelled, it dropped whatever it was holding and flew off over the house. For a split second, I thought it could be one of my chickens or runner ducks, all of them were loose in the yard. Then, the dropped "thing" flew up to the garage roof, where it sat motionless for several minutes, long enough for me to grab binoculars so I could get a look and still allow the poor bird to catch its breath.

I was shocked that it was a smaller hawk. I had no idea, but a quick Google search showed many cases of hawk species -- especially red-tailed hawks -- preying on smaller hawk species.

I will be keeping a close eye on my chickens and ducks today, although anything out of the ordinary usually inspires the geese to sound an alarm, which is much more about their own discomfort than any inclination to protect the others.

 

[Debbie292d]

Wow, how scary! I did not know that small hawks could be prey to larger ones. Glad it was there though as who knows if the bigger hawk might have tried for your chickens or ducks. Hawks are so frustrating.

We use a lot of giant wind spinners around here, which helps.

 

[Krugerrand]

You should get yourself a Guard Deer:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/who-needs-a-guard-dog-when-you-have-a-deer.1572224/

 

[PimsGarden]

Just a heads up, birds of prey can only fly off with 1/3 of their weight. I learned this from a local bird of prey sanctuary. So your avg size chicken or duck can only be killed on the ground by them. I've seen em get bantam chickens too and they also couldn't fly off with them. Again, they WILL kill them on the ground and even fly into a coop sometimes but they at least can't fly off with your birds!

We also have tons of hawks and even eagles around us, I see em pull birds out of trees sometimes! Luckily I made a aviary type run with deer netting so I don't have to stress birds of prey...

 

[Callender Girl]

I watched the guard deer video, and it's pretty impressive.

However, I'm afraid if I got a guard deer, it would just want to join the whitetails here whose apparent mission in life is to eat my landscaping and garden.

Thanks @PimsGarden for the great info on birds of prey. Eagles visit here, too; there is a nest less than a mile away. They are so beautiful -- and cause so much panic among the poultry (and me!).

 

[ksbkeys]

I thought I heard a wild bird in distress this morning, and something moved underneath a weeping willow. By the time I got to the tree, whatever had been under it was gone. I heard the distress call again and scanned the landscape but couldn't see a bird anywhere.

As I was heading back to the house, a hawk flew low past me, and I realized it was holding something in its talons. I yelled, it dropped whatever it was holding and flew off over the house. For a split second, I thought it could be one of my chickens or runner ducks, all of them were loose in the yard. Then, the dropped "thing" flew up to the garage roof, where it sat motionless for several minutes, long enough for me to grab binoculars so I could get a look and still allow the poor bird to catch its breath.

I was shocked that it was a smaller hawk. I had no idea, but a quick Google search showed many cases of hawk species -- especially red-tailed hawks -- preying on smaller hawk species.

I will be keeping a close eye on my chickens and ducks today, although anything out of the ordinary usually inspires the geese to sound an alarm, which is much more about their own discomfort than any inclination to protect the others.

That is amazing! And even more so, that you got to witness it!

 

[PimsGarden]

I watched the guard deer video, and it's pretty impressive.

However, I'm afraid if I got a guard deer, it would just want to join the whitetails here whose apparent mission in life is to eat my landscaping and garden.

Thanks @PimsGarden for the great info on birds of prey. Eagles visit here, too; there is a nest less than a mile away. They are so beautiful -- and cause so much panic among the poultry (and me!).

Yeah they look unsettling but from my experience the eagles are less likely to come after your birds than the hawks, still a little nerve racking haha. And yeah deer are assholes in the garden, I had to put up 8ft poles with netting to stop them. We have tons of deer, they used to sleep in the yard cause we don't like to mow part of it.

 

[ChicNmom]

That is interesting.

I had read that it's better to have smaller hawks around because they are territorial and will chase off larger hawks that can do more damage. I guess this lost that battle.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Red hawks will attack just about anything. My sister and I were on a horseback ride when her horse suddenly bolted into the woods. I went looking for her, but it was in the middle of summer when the woods are thick so it took me a good 10 minutes to find her. When I did she was standing at the bottom of a ravine shaking staring off into a tree. I called her name, but she wouldn’t even turn her head towards me. I crawled down into the ravine to get her and as I got closer I saw she was staring at a big red tail hawk. She had a riding helmet on and there were huge talon marks scraped across it. Every time she tried to move the hawk would attack her head. The only thing that saved her was that she had that riding helmet on.

 

[PimsGarden]

That is interesting.

I had read that it's better to have smaller hawks around because they are territorial and will chase off larger hawks that can do more damage. I guess this lost that battle.

It's good to have crows around cause they chase off the hawks, at least at my house and at my work! I've seen it several times this year, I wish I could reward the crows but they don't come close to me or my "yard". Guard crows would be ideal and also pretty badass haha.