Most back-yard bird watchers hate to see hawks visit...but I have learned to love these regal preditors. They are important birds. Read on....
My mind was scarred a few years back when a Cooper's Hawk grabbed a Mouning Dove and his/she mate followed them and calling. This was awful to witness. But....
They will also feed on rodents and reptiles...ie...rats, squirrels and SNAKES. Love this fact about them. Don't you?
Back to the birds. They only take out the birds that are slower and weak due to age or illness. They (Hawks) play a major part in the food chain.
I travel Euharlee Road every day to work. It is a joy to see these lone Red-tailed Hawk on the power line.
Recently, I had a first-year Red-shouldered Hawk visit and a first-year Sharp-shinned Hawk visit. COOL!
Jean is a host on Birds & Blooms Magazine’s Community Forums and is the lone, bird crazy author of the blog The Joy of Bird Watching and Living a Simple Life.
Good Birding to All!
Bill Thrasher
6:07 am on Friday, December 7, 2012
Hawks do their jobs Jean and after all, they have to eat. My wife feeds a number of crows who have almost become tame. When the two red tails that live on the property get just a wee bit too close, the crows gather up and explain to them that they need to go somewhere else for awhile.
Jean Pell
11:10 pm on Friday, December 7, 2012
Bill, I have seen a couple Blue Jays join a murder of crows in chasing a poor Hawk away and they always succeed. It is an interesting sight to witness.
Crows are amazingly intelligent birds.
Janice P
8:44 am on Friday, December 7, 2012
I love hawks too. I hold my breath every time I see hawks hunting for chipmunks in my back yard. But, they are doing what they are born to do, hunt.
Jean Pell
11:17 pm on Friday, December 7, 2012
Janice, Do chipmunks flatten themselves against a tree trunk like squirrels do in hope that the hawk won't see them?
Diana Taylor
5:58 pm on Sunday, December 9, 2012
Jean I love Hawks too! I love to watch them sore and glide on the wind drafts. My heart sores with them. I once was driving down Burnt Hictory and saw a Hawk sitting on what I thought was the ground. Sense this would be unusual I slowed down and took a closer look. The Hawk was sitting upon a deer that had been hit and killed on the road. The deer must have only just been killed as Hawks don't eat road kill. This was such an amazing picture inside nature I counted it was my blessing from God for that day. Of course, I had no camera.
Jean Pell
7:11 pm on Sunday, December 9, 2012
Diana, What a very wonderful sighing!!!
Wish I was there. Yep...God blesses us with such sightings. (Big Smile)