Baiting the sparrow hawk (2 Viewers)

Yesterday when coming back home from a little pizza dinner we found a juvenile sparrow hawk sitting in our driveway. We stopped the car and watched, then carefully approached. He flew a few yards further and sat down again. When we left the car slowly and carefully he first flew up and sat down on the branch of an ash tree and then - directly headed for the feeders and the feeding house and suddenly turned away from his original direction. Probably because he just had noticed us.

Later I took the Lars Jonsson book "Birds of Europe" and found out that the sparrow hawks often take their prey at the bird feeders.

Okay, now we have another guest and we don't call the bird feeders bird feeders anymore. Let's call them "Sparrow Hawk's Inn".

Elmer Fudd said:

Yesterday when coming back home from a little pizza dinner we found a juvenile sparrow hawk sitting in our driveway. We stopped the car and watched, then carefully approached. He flew a few yards further and sat down again. When we left the car slowly and carefully he first flew up and sat down on the branch of an ash tree and then - directly headed for the feeders and the feeding house and suddenly turned away from his original direction. Probably because he just had noticed us.

Later I took the Lars Jonsson book "Birds of Europe" and found out that the sparrow hawks often take their prey at the bird feeders.

Okay, now we have another guest and we don't call the bird feeders bird feeders anymore. Let's call them "Sparrow Hawk's Inn".

Click to expand...

Try putting some CD's out they don't like anything reflective..... Anything that has' big eyes'..... Big balloons are quite good. Or a false owl..:t:

Elmer Fudd said:

Yesterday when coming back home from a little pizza dinner we found a juvenile sparrow hawk sitting in our driveway. We stopped the car and watched, then carefully approached. He flew a few yards further and sat down again. When we left the car slowly and carefully he first flew up and sat down on the branch of an ash tree and then - directly headed for the feeders and the feeding house and suddenly turned away from his original direction. Probably because he just had noticed us.

Later I took the Lars Jonsson book "Birds of Europe" and found out that the sparrow hawks often take their prey at the bird feeders.

Okay, now we have another guest and we don't call the bird feeders bird feeders anymore. Let's call them "Sparrow Hawk's Inn".

Click to expand...

It is nature, so the best thing is to give the little guys plenty of shelter opportunities.
Here in NYCs Central Park, our feeders are routinely visited by the local raptors who presumably see the site as their luncheon table. Low thorny shrubs help even out the odds for our passerines. That seems to balance out for everybody.

babycakes said:

Try putting some CD's out they don't like anything reflective..... Anything that has' big eyes'..... Big balloons are quite good. Or a false owl..:t:

Click to expand...

Thank you! I will try it with the false owl. But will it work without spooking the little birds away. I have an eagle owl made of plastic.

It's worth remembering that only 1 in 3 juvenile Sparrowhawks survive their first year; mortality in males being greater than for females. Starvation is the cause of most deaths. Sparrowhawks treat your feeders like a berry-laden bush... small birds flock to feed off the berries... the Sparrowhawk finds the weakest/easiest target. It's how Nature works; you can either stop feeding the birds or just don't watch when a hungry Sparrowhawk catches it's meal.

Or you could put up lots of shiny objects that all birds, including Sparrowhawks, get used to in time (my neighbours adorned their garden with CDs years ago to scare away the birds from my garden... my garden is still full of birds, as hunger soon overcomes fear)

Incidentally, I've one particular male Sparrowhawk that's been visiting for 5 years, since he was a juvenile... he catches more Mice than the local Cats.

Hi,

Sparrowhawks like to approach their prey in a direct route, usually coming from some sort of cover. One option is to position bamboo garden canes around around the feeder in a way that doesn't allow a direct approach. This will hopefully slow down the hawk's approach and thus give the smaller species a little more time to react and seek shelter. Again, the birds may well adapt to this over time, so rearrange them as necessary.

It's not nice, but as Chris says, it's just nature and the hawk is acting naturally, making use of an easily available resource.

Cheers

O.K. I will not try too spook him off. It's my wife who has a problem with predators without considering that the greatest predator on earth is the mankind him/her/itself...

I will show her your posting ChrisKten. That will probably convince her.

Thank you for your information.