I have had a Cooper Hawk that has all of a sudden showing up. Saw him 2 day ago in the afternoon and this morning I ran him off 3 time with in 20 minutes. This is real making me mad. I went and bought an OWL Decoy and put it up next to the Colony. The martins have paid it no mine, but the hawk I hope see it and stays away. With my young starting to Fled he make think that it is buffet is open. Not sure of what else to do. I can not be here outside all day ever day.
So sorry James that this hawk has found your colony. Yep they can make a purple Martin landlord angry real quick. Hope you can figure out how to send him on his way elsewhere.
We are having attacks daily and expect them to be more frequent when babies start fledging.
When fledging time happens the hawks definitely show up. I'll be able to tell how good the owl decoys work then.........will probably need to move them around quite often then.
A while back, somebody casually mentioned bottle rockets fired into the air (not at the hawk) which helped...
I know the situation is serious. Not to make light of it, but If I could get a free flight to FLL and could bring bottle rockets in my check bag (yeah right), I would bring my big straw hat and sit in your yard for a while with a glass of fresh Florida lemonade and a box of matches. Crazy Mary would discourage Cooper.
I wish you the best, and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Hang in there, your Martins need you more now than ever.
~Mary B~
Lifelong PM Admirer and Nature Enthusiast.
Ruthless trapper of S&S year round.
2013-2016 Unsuccessful at starting a PM colony. Health problems.
Rehomed all my PM stuff. Good Luck and Best Wishes to All.
Sorry to hear about that hawk! A friend of mine got a wedding gift last Saturday of an owl decoy with a moving head. He does not have a Martin colony, but he hopes the decoy will scare off squirrels. I've heard that crow decoys can scare away hawks too.
Gary I put a Owl Decoy and he was back a again this morning. Not sure of what to do at this point. He has now take over my live. I do not wish of him to eat everyone one of my young. I will loss my whole colony if this keeps going on. I sit outside most of the day just waiting to see if he will show as so I can run him off.
I know it is a tough situation to deal with these hawks! I put 4X4 fencing around my twelve compartment housing to prevent hawks from picking off the adults on the porches. As you know, reports on this forum confirm that these predators are attracted to large colonies, and you now have quite a few pairs of Martins.
I assume you have Martin decoys around your housing, that you can reposition daily? Also, maybe you could pick up a couple of Crow decoys too. There have been a number of times when I have seen Crows chasing a Cooper's hawk. I remember a few years ago a Cooper's hawk was flying low right through my yard with a dove in it's talon, and 3 Crows were right behind chasing it.
Hi Gary, The attacks seem to be unstoppable I have Owl Decoys around the property and it has not stopped this one hawk. He came just at Dusk last night and the martin left. I am not sure of how many came back in the dark. I am afraid that this hawk will run off my whole colony and as long as it has been for me to build this colony to lose it over one season is hard for me. It is a shame that one bird can end something so fast. The martins may just leave at anytime or they will not come back next year and that will just kill me. I wish I could stay outside all day and protect them but we know I can not do that.
They did come back this morning and were feeding the young and I have a lot of Fledgeling gone on and I am sure that is what he is after. I do still have some sitting on eggs which are Sy's. I can only hope it will stop, but I know it will not.
Martin Colony History: A new purple martin wannabe landlord, I took over management of long neglected colonies at two public golf courses Spring of 2015. I had 20 nesting pairs at Algonkian Golf Course and 15 at Brambleton.
James, I've read of the following additional strategies for dealing with Coopers: I don't know what kind of housing you have but, as previously suggested, a cage type guard will keep the hawk from picking martins off on the housing. Make sure you have Martin decoys placed on any top perches and be prepared to reposition every day or so. This will encourage the hawk to target the decoys and allow the real martins some time to get away. Place bird feeders in the flight paths of the Coopers. Blue Jays sound a great alarm. They love peanuts in the shell. They'll go through them quickly so buy the biggest bag you can find. Do you have doves? Try to attract them as an alternative prey source. Put bird seed on the ground near your feeders. In general, attract as many other backyard birds to your site as possible so all can sound the alarm when the Coopers approaches. Also, no need to be concerned about attacks after dark. The only nighttime avian predators are owls so far as I know. One more thing, somewhere on YouTube there is a video of someone using a clapper built out of wood 4x4s or something. When you smack those hinged boards together it sounds like s shotgun and will hopefully scare a lurking hawk away if he isn't already in flight to his target. Last but not least, if there are any trees or vegetation providing cover for his stealthy approach, consider removing some or all of it if possible. Good luck and keep us posted!
2015 Obsessed Newbie - brand spankin' new 6 gourd Troyer system at home and only lookers
2015 took over management in late May of sites at two golf courses with active colonies
Hi Brenda and thanks for your suggestions. I tried Martin Decoys, but my Martins hate them. I have thought about the bird feeder and may buy one of those. I like the idea of Blue Jays being around. At Dusk last night the hawk attacked and it drove the Martins into the air. We only had about minutes of light before it got dark. I am not sure that they could see to get in. I did have them back this morning.
James, We have been tormented by a resident Cooper's for the third year. It is devastating to be outsmarted by a hawk and I refuse to accept this outcome.
There are many variables involved; my hawk shows up in the evenings and thru trial and error I have found that my yard lights were some deterrent, although the hawk chose the dark areas in which to take a martin. So, I installed a large light on the upper deck and we are lit up like Times Square. No hawk since. I am out there every evening with my glass of wine and my marine air horn, which is also effective, and my finger is always on the trigger. The air horn is very effective, but, of course, one has to be present to use it.
These methods have worked for me, but I'm still doing the "hawk patrol" every evening.
Sorry to hear of your hawk problems. You have lots of company here on the forum. Brenda has provided some good things to try. My martins didn't like the decoys either but they got used to them pretty quick. In addition to feeding the local birds and putting black oil sunflower seed on the ground under the feeders to attract doves, I put some dove decoys around the perimeter of my site. The hawk hit one the next day. They all have scratches on them now so they are helping to distract the resident coopers hawk.
Unfortunately there is no perfect solution. I am hoping to fledge about 38 birds in June, but I know the hawk will be coming around. It will probably end up getting a few. I believe it has already gotten 2 adults this year (I saw it take 1 and another paired-up ASY male just went missing one day).
I may build a wire cage over the winter. This will keep them from getting to the martins on the housing, but they will always be vulnerable when gathering nesting material and especially when fledge time comes.
I plan to spend as much time as I can watching out for the killer when the birds are fledging. That will be me out there, running around looking up into the sky and blowing an air horn. Might as well, I'm crazy about my martins!
Good luck,
BW
2009-2013 a few visitors.
2014: 1 pair of SY love birds, 5 fledges; 2015: 7 pair, 34 Fldg; 2016: 12p/54F; 2017: 14p/71F;
2018: 24p/103F; 2019: 29p/130F; 2020: 38p/190F
Martin Colony History: I inherited this colony when I purchased the property from my Great Uncle. To the best of my knowledge, he had hosted Martins since 1977. Housing consisted of three twelve compartment units that he had built. Small compartments, round holes and no way to lower for managing. There were maybe 6-8 pairs here when we moved in. Through reading up on information provided by the PMCA and that provided to me by Bob Buskas, the decision was made to upgrade the housing. We are now fully switched over to North Star houses and hosted 58 pairs this season(2017). 60 compartments open for business and being so close to 100% occupancy, I believe we may expand housing offered next season. Expansion will continue contingent to high occupancy, being able to keep up on management and or until it starts to feel like work.
It really sucks that so many are plagued by these buggers. I've had Merlin issues off and on for the last couple years as the colony has grown and become more of a target rich environment for the Hawks. Tonight was the first I've seen a Coopers make a play. Right at last light it came wailing through the yard. I didn't see it get a Martin but suspect it did as only a fragment of the Martins returned before dark. I haven't tried setting feeders up in the attack routes but what I did notice last year was the tree swallows almost always seemed to be sounding the alarm before other birds. Bi witnessed more than once them giving the Martins just enough notice to escape so this year I deployed several tree swallow houses around the colony hoping that they provide an alarm network sort of thing. Might be wishful thinking but hoping it helps especially seeing how the Coopers attack in a different manner than Merlins. Wish you all the best in your own struggles.
I am having a lot of Fledgeling a lot of young right now. I am sure that some that have flown off have been picked off. He makes his play in the morning and in the evening. I am outside most of the time during the those time, but can not be out there all day.
