Hawk

[Appolosmom]

I've had a cooper hawk hanging out around my back yard got a sweet morning dove i know it's nature but it breaks my heart does anyone know how to get rid of a hawk i would appreciate any advice

 

[Birdbabe]

As long as theres food, he will hang around, you could try a fake owl on the roof, or if you see him, spray him with a garden hose..

 

[Lady Jane]

Coopers are very loud but pretty. Also quite territorial. Wont be easy to shoo it away.

 

[finchly]

I was beside a mockingbird and a young hawk got it. They’re determined!

 

[Shezbug]

I do not know if the fake owl will work for a hawk......we had four of them scattered around our yard to keep the birds off the fruit and all they did was stress out our dogs
The magpies, crows and smaller birds all just sat at a distance for a few minutes watching the fake owls, by the end of the day they were perching on the fake owls while taking a rest from eating my fruit.
I hope your morning dove will be alright and I hope the hawk moves on to another area.

 

[Appolosmom]

I do not know if the fake owl will work for a hawk......we had four of them scattered around our yard to keep the birds off the fruit and all they did was stress out our dogs
The magpies, crows and smaller birds all just sat at a distance for a few minutes watching the fake owls, by the end of the day they were perching on the fake owls while taking a rest from eating my fruit.
I hope your morning dove will be alright and I hope the hawk moves on to another area.

 

[Appolosmom]

actually he got the morning dove i found a bunch of his feathers onthe ground

 

[SandraK]

We get an "all bird alarm" from my flock about a hawk in the yard. I don't know if they get their info from the wild birds or not but everyone goes nuts and literally do wheeling laps around our family room. The resident Cooper's hawk (Mr. Cooper) has sat on our deck bannister, sat in the crab apple tree on the other side of the deck and sits in a large tree on the side of the house. The latter gives him a bird's eye view (no pun intended) of the feeders in the back and the feeders in the front.

Last week on one of the days the weather was gloomy Fred & I were watching tv in the family room with a view to the back garden & feeders. There's an empty cage on the deck that I'm working on and the sliding door is to the right of the tv. We didn't even see what happened but there's always a mourning dove or two waddling around the deck or the back garden. All we know is that every bird must have disappeared and there was a small cloud of feathers gently drifting to the deck floor. The hit was so stealthy that our inside flock didn't even react the way they usually do to a hawk. We didn't even see the hit.

Unfortunately, I think it was a mourning dove from the few feathers I found. Mr. Cooper seems to really like dining at Cafe Kassabian but we also have red tails and a smaller hawk that only comes zipping through at dawn & dusk. It's sad but it is the circle of life, if you will. The jays are about the only ones who will out a hawk and "shame" them out of the area. Crows do too but we hardly ever see crows in this residential area.

I suppose I should be grateful that at least they take their meals "to go" so I don't have to face disposing leftovers.

 

[Shezbug]

actually he got the morning dove i found a bunch of his feathers onthe ground

I am sorry you lost your resident dove

 

[Appolosmom]

We get an "all bird alarm" from my flock about a hawk in the yard. I don't know if they get their info from the wild birds or not but everyone goes nuts and literally do wheeling laps around our family room. The resident Cooper's hawk (Mr. Cooper) has sat on our deck bannister, sat in the crab apple tree on the other side of the deck and sits in a large tree on the side of the house. The latter gives him a bird's eye view (no pun intended) of the feeders in the back and the feeders in the front.

Last week on one of the days the weather was gloomy Fred & I were watching tv in the family room with a view to the back garden & feeders. There's an empty cage on the deck that I'm working on and the sliding door is to the right of the tv. We didn't even see what happened but there's always a mourning dove or two waddling around the deck or the back garden. All we know is that every bird must have disappeared and there was a small cloud of feathers gently drifting to the deck floor. The hit was so stealthy that our inside flock didn't even react the way they usually do to a hawk. We didn't even see the hit.

Unfortunately, I think it was a mourning dove from the few feathers I found. Mr. Cooper seems to really like dining at Cafe Kassabian but we also have red tails and a smaller hawk that only comes zipping through at dawn & dusk. It's sad but it is the circle of life, if you will. The jays are about the only ones who will out a hawk and "shame" them out of the area. Crows do too but we hardly ever see crows in this residential area.

I suppose I should be grateful that at least they take their meals "to go" so I don't have to face disposing leftovers.

 

[Appolosmom]

how long has your hawk been hanging around? I'm hoping it will move on I went to a seminar once & was told the cooper hawk's favorite food is woodpecker and I have tons of them very worried

 

[rocky'smom]

Protect Backyard Birds From Hawks
The only time I see hawks in springtime, they snagging baby ducks out of the pool.

 

[SandraK]

how long has your hawk been hanging around? I'm hoping it will move on I went to a seminar once & was told the cooper hawk's favorite food is woodpecker and I have tons of them very worried

We have Cooper's, red tail, sharp shinned and some small ones that only come through at dusk and dawn - one almost flew into me one morning in autumn when I went out to get the paper on the driveway. Woodpecker-wise, I've seen the downy, the hairy, the red bellied and the northern flicker.

I'm attaching some photos taken in Feb. 2018 of a woodpecker that had been feasting on a WBU seed cylinder until a hawk showed up. I couldn't get a photo of the hawk but this is what the downy/hairy woodpecker did until I walked on to the deck which made the hawk take off. As soon as the hawk left so did the woodpecker. This woodpecker held this position for 11 minutes until the hawk left - I believe it was a Coopers but it could also have been a red tail. There was a pair of red tails that had a nest 2 doors down from us but they lost the nest and branch that held their nest. They did come back last spring but I noticed that only one was coming back; I'm assuming that the mate was killed or died. We still have red tails hanging around and I'm figuring they are the offspring of the original adults.


These were taken on Feb. 22, 2018 2:25 p.m. and I'm not even sure the woodpecker was breathing ... until he left.

 

[SandraK]

Coopers are very loud but pretty. Also quite territorial. Wont be easy to shoo it away.[/QUOTE

I have to admit that I haven't heard the Coopers but have and do hear the red tails. Usually followed by blue jays alarms.

 

[Appolosmom]

I have seen my woodpeckers do the same thing

 

[melissasparrots]

I think there is a limit to what you can do to get rid of the hawk legally. Spraying him with water or making any kind of contact may be illegal. My vote would be let him stay. He has as much right to be in your back yard as you do. If he's found a good hunting area in your yard then good for him. Many young hawks die during their first winter. It might break your heart but its his life. If you don't like it, stay inside and don't look out the windows. That way, you won't be bothered by the realities nature. A more passive route would be to get rid of your bird feeders and anything that attracts birds.

 

[SandraK]

I think there is a limit to what you can do to get rid of the hawk legally. Spraying him with water or making any kind of contact may be illegal. My vote would be let him stay. He has as much right to be in your back yard as you do. If he's found a good hunting area in your yard then good for him. Many young hawks die during their first winter. It might break your heart but its his life. If you don't like it, stay inside and don't look out the windows. That way, you won't be bothered by the realities nature. A more passive route would be to get rid of your bird feeders and anything that attracts birds.

Everyone has to eat and that's a given. Most people don't realize that our beautiful wild birds are equally dangerous to each other as in throwing someone else's eggs out of a nest, laying their own f/somebirdy else to feed, killing chicks and laying their own eggs ... Nature really isn't pretty or nice.

 

[hrafn]

I have two resident red-tails who live in my front yard (Scarecrow and Chainsaw) and they've been living in my tree alongside the resident magpies and sparrows for a good five years.
I get to witness a loooot of death and destruction at their hands (talons?) and it's not pleasant to see, but everyone has to eat.

I don't know the laws in Ohio, but where I live you're not allowed to mess with birds of prey, as they're protected under the Wildlife Act. Don't do anything that could get you in legal trouble.