My foe is a hawk!

How can I keep him out of my yard?! Granted he needs to eat and it's his instinct, but is coming right up into the flower beds next to my house and nabbing my doves! He's going to scare all my birds away. Any ideas?

Sorry about your Doves.
In my neighborhood I would welcome a Hawk with open arms:
Squirrels dig up any fresh soil, may it be in a pot or surrounding freshly planted bulbs. They work in tandem with a very cute bunny population, which then eats from the ground whatever the Squirrels graciously serve them!! The only way to protect plants in my yard is to place everything which is dear to me in a LARGE cage, or throw bird-netting over it.

Surely somebody here has a solution for you!

Oh wow, thanks for your sympathy but it sounds like you've got it much worse! At least the hawk isn't bothering my plants. I feel for the doves but my plants are a different thing!! lol

I had to quit feeding for awhile because I had created a hawk smorgaasbord. He would sit on the fence and wait. Took 6 mo to convince him the pickings were better elsewhere.

I think that's what I might have to do. :( This one sits on my fence waiting for the dinner bell. He's gotten very comfortable since he'll come right up into the flower bed next to my house. I'll either have to just let them eat ala natural or open my back door every few hrs to scare him away. I've heard of hanging up things to scare them off but I think that would scare all my birds.

Why not just let nature take it's course? Hawks are not bad things to have around, and they eat other things besides doves, too. April

Well...it's been coming here for the last few months and I really didn't have a problem with it until now. I've been trying to attract different birds to my yard and this really wasn't in my plan. lol Spring has arrived and he's interrupting my ideal yard. Maybe other food will be more available to him soon since it is warming up, and I'll be outside so much that I guess I'LL scare him! I guess I just panicked at the sight of him so close to the house and gray feathers flying all around in the air from his breakfast.

We had the same problem at our old house. Darn thing caught a towhee one morning and I went outside when I heard the screaming. Huge red-tailed hawk, right outside the kitchen window (where we had the feeder), sitting there with the towhee under its foot. Looked me right in the eye as if to say, "yeah, and what are you going to do about it?" Told him to get the job done, for Pete's sake, and stop tormenting the little guy. Didn't enjoy breakfast for a week. He also used to perch outside the room where our parrots lived, scaring the daylights out of them.

I would chase him off repeatedly and eventually he went off to somewhere more peaceful. We don't put feeders out at our new place, just plant things that are good for the birds and give them places to hide.

Good luck.

Konkrete,

I know how you feel...we have/had Cooper's Hawks that live in the hedgerow somewhere along the back fences...and they occasionally pick birds off of my feeders. Last year, they got one of my downy woodpeckers, which kind of cheesed me off. I found the feathers, and kept them. I was so mad. But then I thought, well, this is nature. If I garden to attract wildlife, and it shows up...nature isn't tidy, and doesn't always do what I would like it to. LOL! I saw one of the Cooper's grab a starling off a feeder right in front of my eyes. I wish I could train them to just pick off the english house sparrows and starlings!

But I bet for every towhee or dove that your hawks pick off...they pick off 10 English House sparrows or starlings or moles or mice. It IS upsetting when they get one of your favourite birds! I have 2 pairs of mourning doves that come to my feeders...so far, so good. But I haven't seen the Cooper's family in a while, I think the idiot down the street who shoots the stray cats(I have a few of his victims living in my house) with his BB gun might have also shot them. I'm hoping not. I'm hoping the Cooper's hawks are migratory. This moron is a lot more dangerous to birds than a hawk is! April

I wish I had your hawk! We have one hawk but about 5 ,000 doves. They're just like vacuum cleaners. My wife and I love to feed the finches,cardinals, woodpeckers, bluebirds,(well, you get the picture), etc. The doves come on our porch by the busloads and run everyone else away. The woodpeckers have started going inside the feeders we have caged for the smaller birds and the doves will land on those feeders even though they can't get in to the seed. I don't want to wipe them out, a fews ok but this is ridiculous. I hope ours hawk gets fat. Be glad you have one, sorry about a bird every now and then but he's worth a bunch for varmints he gets .

Chilihead..

I understand. I have 99% starlings and english house sparrows at my feeders. The other 1%...a pair of nuthatches. 2 pair of cardinals, 2 pair of chickadees. a pair of downy woodpeckers. a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers. 2 pair of mourning doves. Some slate coloured juncoes, in the winter. A pair of house finches(also non-native) That's it. Everything else...non-native, aggressive, trash birds, i.e., english house sparrows and starlings. They chase most everything else off.

Chilihead...lol...I guess the "grass is always greener". I do have some doves that are pretty pushy and sit their entire body in my little feeder. The only other birds that I have (since we are in a new development with no trees) is sparrows, a few finches, and occassionally one Red-winged Blackbird. Oh, and this year I finally have some Robins. Other than that it's my little Mourning Doves so I've become quite attached to them.

For a while the hawk would sit facing the yard behind me and I know they used to have mice (and a rat!) so I hope he finished them all off. That he will migrate soon is also another thought, but I don't know exactly what kind it is. I won't be shooting him (which is actually illegal here) but will not be happy if he grabs a meal in front of me!

I just remembered I have a shot of him thru the window. Maybe someone can tell what kind it is.

Another pic, not sure if it's the same bird tho.

konkrete,

You have what looks like a Cooper's Hawk in the first picture. Probably the same bird in the second. They are starting to be seen more and more in suburban areas, because people feed the birds, and their native habitat has been torn up. At least they are adapting instead of becoming extinct. I know you feel bad, about it, though. Please try not to..he can't get all your birds! I feel bad when "our" hawks take birds from the feeders, too. April

My dad thought it was a Cooper's Hawk too. (yeah, that 2nd one isn't very clear on here) Now I feel a little sorry for him actually. I'm sure you are right that his native habitat is gone, because it's certainly not my backyard.

I have these solar screens on my bedroom window. They are really neat because in the daytime I can see out and nothing can see in. My cats love it. They sit and watch the birds and wonder why they aren't scared. One day I saw the hawk sitting right on the stones looking for sparrows in the bushes, but he couldn't see me. It was pretty neat.

Wow KKBlonde, Looks like a Coopers Hawk to me too. I used to have one but haven't seen mine in a while. You are so lucky to have that wonderful bird of prey and I am jealous of your solar screens. Neat way to watch the world outside.

This fella just thinks I've set up a buffet for him. I saw him swoop down into my yard the other day so I went to see where he went. He was on the back fence again but further in the neighbors yard. I took my shoes and banged them together trying to scare him off. That didn't work so I walked out towards the fence, got to the fence, climbed on and pulled up as much as I could (I'm 5'2") and looked at him on the fence. He just looked at me! I banged against the fence, nothing. Finally after I got down he swooped down into the other neighbor's yard then back up again and sat on that fence, with his back to me. LOL

I think they call that "fair warning!"

My first pom puppy sought cover from a hawk by scurrying unter a wooden picnic table. We never let her out by herself after that.
Sidney

The prudent thing to do.

she lived 13 years.

kkblond,
I would think he owns that fence!!

Reading the thread about hawks, I have one now that swoops in and has lunch now and then, but it made me remember at our old home,there was a pair of Bald Eagles nesting across the road from us, in the upper hill in the evergreens there was a rookery of Blue Harons "spell". I was overjoyed with both. Until one day I was out in the yard and heard this gawdaful ruckus overhead. I looked up and saw the eagle swoop down and take a nestling out of the trees,, and fly off with it,, adults screaming, and flapping all around. I was so upset with that nasty eagle! Until like most ya'll have said, thats nature, and its beautiful. I feel very fortunate to have been a part of their lives, to see them nesting and raising the babies will be somthing I will never forget. So I say live and let live. Birds work hard for a living!

Viv

Yep.......:-)

I'm glad I found this thread I am having the exact same issue. I noticed the birds had disappeared from the yard and I didn't know why, so naturally I blamed the starlings :)

Then I went outside and heard something squawking at me and it was not one but 2 coopers hawks, a big one and a juvenile! I was thrilled to see them at first, but after I id'ed the birds I realized why my songbirds had disappeared.

The hawks have been flying overhead for several days and my birds are few and far between :(
I really wish the hawks would move on. Nothing against them, but there's a nice wildlife reserve not too far off where I'm sure the hunting could be better!

Worst part is, the squirrels seem undeterred! There's at least 3 digging holes in my raised beds daily!

Maureen

My hawk has been gone for a few weeks now. I stopped putting out so much food for the birds so that might have helped. The doves still come and peck around on the ground but so far, so good. I've started putting the food back out so I guess I will see if he moved on. I'm hoping he's found more food now that Spring is here.

Lets hope so!

Get on you ole mean Hawks! You hear me, get, git, GIT!

This morning he or a relative returned. I actually think this one was smaller, about the size of a pigeon. It was laying on my back fence, like it was asleep. I took a few pics thru the window but they are too blurry. It didn't move when I unlocked the door, opened it, put on shoes and walked towards it, but just as I lifted the camera, he flew off. I noticed a white band across each wing which I think is a Cooper's Hawk. He had either already eaten a dove or just isn't interested in sparrows. ...and just when I thought he was gone! I guess I shouldn't have thought about him at all! I'm actually more intrigued by him now than I was. I'm hoping to get a good picture.

It is morethan likely a Kestrel hawk that is getting your birds.
http://www.golden-eagle.com/Photos/p041.php
This page has awesome pics. I love mine as they eat so many mice and sparrows. Sadly they get doves now and then but mainly they eat pests. I love watching mine jump into the evergreen bush where the sparrows hang out. He jumps in and thrashes around until he gets what he came for. They are so incredible to watch, acrobats at their best.
I think the bigger hawks are the female Kestrel's and don't look anything like the male.
We do occasionally get a Redtail hawk. My bed lies 6 ft. away from my sliding backdoor leading to the deck where most of my feeder's are. I get to watch them when I first wake up, sometimes I don't want to get up!LOL
The other day me and the dog came out really fast and spooked a redtail 6ft outside the door eating a mouse. He scared us to death when he jumped up to get away from us! I sure wished the hawks ate Canadian Geese! Man we have so many of those nasty birds around and they spread feces bigger than cats! YUCKO!

http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Cliffs/4490/hawks3.html
WOW WE have a Sharp Shinned Hawk, that is what I was calling a female Kestrel hawk, how cool.
This 1 is here almost every day and is the one that thrives on the sparrows.
I had no idea we had such a variety of hawks. And I thought I knew my birds!LOL