Day of the hawk.

[walkin jack]

Another nasty rainy windy day. No country for old men....at least not outside anyway. Not much going on so I guess I'll make the day in here with y'all.

A good time to tell y'all about our hawk(s). There is a natural gas piipeline easment right behind my back yard. The company has let us fence it in as it is abandoned and air-gapped and never to be used again. They say no big trees or concrete slabs but other than that we can use it as our own. That makes our virtual back yard about 80' X80' which is a fair sized yard. At least it seem so when its time to mow the lawn. Just on the other side of the back fence is a large city park with lots of Pines, magnolias, oaks and ash trees.

We have a full size bird bath a Shepherds hook with two bird feeders on it and a feeder hanging from a tree (A plate suspended by chains).

I don't have it any more but for 20 years I had a large vegetable garden patch (32' X 64') You gotta know we get a very wide assortment of critters visit us. Since we feed the birds year 'round we have several hawks and kites that prey upon the birds at out feeders. We've seen Coopers hawks, Gosh hawks and Harrisons hawks and on 3 occasions we have seen my favorite, the red tailed hawk.

There are a wide variety of birds for them to choose from but they seem to favor the morning doves and white wing doves. I've always believed that this is because these are the dumbest and slowest bird around. the Grackles and blue jays and mocking birds usually get away clean. But it is not uncommon to see a huge clump of feather in the back yard and we even get to watch the kill sometimes. I love to see a hawk take a dove in the air that is so cool. But quite often they will swoop down and nail one sitting on the ground.

We've seen some of the larger hawks take squirrels and rats and mice. One time there was a little bunny rabbit in the zuchinni patch eatin' the leaves and a big old hawk swooped down and away they went. First time I ever heard a rabbit scream.

Anyway we have been visited several times a day for the last week or so by a new-to-us type of hawk. He's fair sized and very fast. His physical characteristics lead me to believe he is one kind of hawk but his colors are not quite right and his habitat is now where near hear. All I know is he's a killer and rarely misses his target.

He doesn't seem to be people shy at all. Even if we are sitting out on the deck with a fire in the chiminea he will make a pass over the yard and if something get's his attention he will go for it.

I do worry about our outside kitties, Ms Myah and her young'uns. I don't think the hawk could get Myah at least not without loosing lots of feathers and blood but he could easily snatch one of the kittens. I'd hate to have to grab the 870.

we've lived here for 35 years and love the view from the bay window in the dining room. It's our little window on the world.

 

[walkin jack]

While I'm at it, here's a few pics of hawks and other critters.

 

[pinduck]

Could it be a peregrine falcon?
glen

 

[shouldazagged]

Mourning doves are slow where you live? As one who's hunted them for a very long time I can tell you that the ones around here can fly sixty miles an hour, and with a 20-mile-an-hour tailwind can come blazing over a silage field at eighty.

I love the red tailed hawks too, and we have a few pairs of the deadly peregrines---the F-16's of the bird world, that can dive at 200 miles an hour---nesting on bridges here. They are handsome and fascinating to watch.

But to me the most beautiful of the local hawks is the little kestrel, the sparrow hawk. Lovely colors, graceful in flight, and able to hover like tiny helicopters watching for mice or other little critters.

 

[Mike McLellan]

We get most of the different species of hawks and falcons up here, including Kestrels and their larger cousins, Merlins. My wife and I are avid birders, but are too slow or clumsy to get any quality photographs.

 

[finesse_r]

We get a variety of hawks here. Mostly red tail and white tail hawks that work our fields looking for mice, rabbits, and whatever else upon which they can prey. They love it when we get out the tractor and mow the fields. They really go to work then. They scream out just like an eagle and I find that a beautiful sound.

I love the hawks, but I don't care for the owls at all. Owls, bobcats, and coyotes tend to reduce the squirrel and rabbit population too much.

 

[ejeli]

(They scream out just like an eagle and I find that a beautiful sound.)
You are probably aware of this but the sound that you always hear on TV or in the movies when they show an Eagle flying is actually a Red-tailed Hawk
Here is a link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, once there type in a search for Bald Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk and you will be able to listen to the calls of each.
e.
Search for a bird by entering name, description, and keywords, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

 

[vigil617]

Walkin' Jack, you have birds in your yard I've only seen in zoos! What are those first two, anyway?

 

[LVSteve]

A
Anyway we have been visited several times a day for the last week or so by a new-to-us type of hawk. He's fair sized and very fast. His physical characteristics lead me to believe he is one kind of hawk but his colors are not quite right and his habitat is now where near hear. All I know is he's a killer and rarely misses his target.

If the colours are not quite right but everything else looks good for a species it usually means you are seeing a juvenile.

If your ferals cannot deal with hawks then that is just one of those things, I'm afraid. Now if it were coyotes threatening them I would say waste every one you see, but I see no need or justification for killing a bird of prey.

 

[walkin jack]

Pinduck, I don't think we get any falcons. We have a book we use to identify our bird visitors and we've not had any falcons that we know of. This new one that has been coming around is way to big to be a falcon or a kite.

Shouldazagged, slow...and stupid. If I was 10 years younger I think I could catch one with my bare hands. Rilly.

Vigil617, the first pic is of what is know around here as Quaker Parrots. I've caught them and kept them in cages and they are very noisey and messy but they will get along well with people. They like to be misted with cool water and eat Kelloggs Frosted Flakes from your hand. THey will eventually let you handle them and sit on your head and shoulder. Just more noisy and messy than most folks care to put up with.

the second pic is a yellow crested night heron. Herons are water birds and after a heavy rain when water is standing in the yard they come in and look for frogs and crawfish. As I mentioned. there is a large city park just on the other side of the back fence and lots of critters hang out there. Occasionally some of them find their way into our yard.

BTW that 4th pic is a red wing black bird.

 

[Redmond]

The hawk looks like either a juvenile Cooper's Hawk or Sharp Shin Hawk. They take birds off of our feeders frequently. I think they see the feeders as their local bistro. The Cooper's is larger and lives in TX year-round. The Sharpies winter in TX.

 

[rog8732]

I have noticed a resurgence of hawks here in our area. I am not familiar with the types.
Strangely, I see more and more road-kill hawks on our truck bypass, and have witnessed at least two getting hit by 18 wheelers. One was in a dive for prey ( I guess) and slammed into the smoke stack.
Seems to me animals are quick to adapt to their surroundings, and I think hawks have discovered new, fertile, hunting grounds, and begun to feed on rodents that are exploring road-kill.
Seems to me when hawks are in a dive, they may be so focused on the target they do not actually perceive a moving vehicle, even one as large as a truck. Shame to see such birds dead on the side of the road.

 

[walkin jack]

If the colours are not quite right but everything else looks good for a species it usually means you are seeing a juvenile.

If your ferals cannot deal with hawks then that is just one of those things, I'm afraid. Now if it were coyotes threatening them I would say waste every one you see, but I see no need or justification for killing a bird of prey.

Steve, I could not agree with you more. I think that all raptors are magnificent and majestic and even regal. I love to watch them in flight. Pure grace and beauty. I would never do anything to harm one of them unless it attacked a human. Certainly not for a feral cat.

I've enjoyed my little outside gang but hawks gotta make a livin' too. If one of the kittens gets picked off I hold no ill will toward the hawk that gets it. It's just nature takin' it's course.