New for me: Summertime Hawks

[-=DKC=-]

I've never seen hawks in my neighborhood during the summertime in the 20+ years I've lived here. Never saw them last year in my first successful year as a PM landlord. We've always had wintertime hawks and the Accipiters are still present when the Martins return early in the year but never in the summer.

This week I saw a White Tailed Hawk being harassed in a treetop by Martins and Kingbirds. He seemed to move on and no sooner had the Martins all settled down than he swooped through them while they were sitting on the power lines. Didn't see him catch one but he tried. Earlier that day I was trying to solve the mystery of a missing 18 day old baby. Sadly I'm afraid that mystery may be solved.

When I woke up this morning my birds sounded worked up. When I went outside to check on them I must have scared off a Buteo sized hawk (not a White Tail) because he appeared to be leaving my yard with the whole colony in pursuit.

I'm guessing that my 50+ Martins making so much noise at fledging time is bringing in the hawks. I had hoped I would never have this problem. Now I really feel for all of you that have heavy hawk presence throughout your seasons. It's very stressful and concerning.

[Emil Pampell-Tx]

Yes, larger colonies do attract more hawks. The real problem is trees that are too close to the housing, the martins cannot escape in time when a hawk swoops down on them. If there are no trees, the martins can see the hawk coming and then they fly real high so that the hawk does not get above them. In my opinion, I see people recommending 60 to 100 ft from trees, but that simply is not enough for a colony.

A minor aid, there is somewhat an advantage to a larger colony, there are more eyes in the sky to watch for hawks and give an advance notice.

[-=DKC=-]

Yes, larger colonies do attract more hawks. The real problem is trees that are too close to the housing, the martins cannot escape in time when a hawk swoops down on them. If there are no trees, the martins can see the hawk coming and then they fly real high so that the hawk does not get above them. In my opinion, I see people recommending 60 to 100 ft from trees, but that simply is not enough for a colony.

A minor aid, there is somewhat an advantage to a larger colony, there are more eyes in the sky to watch for hawks and give an advance notice.

Unfortunately, my colony is very close to trees. I've always read that southern birds are more tolerant of being close to trees and from what I've seen in my town (Corpus Christi) they do seem quite willing to live near trees here. I had always theorized that it was because we don't have Accipiters during breeding like they do up north. I had not factored in Buteos.

In my defense though, when I put up the pole I had never seen any summertime hawks in my neighborhood and I've been a birder since 1984 so I pay attention. I'm looking at my beautiful trees in a whole different light now and wondering if any are expendable.

Do owl cages around the housing also help at all with hawks?

[VinnyJohns]

"The real problem is trees that are too close to the housing, the martins cannot escape in time when a hawk swoops down on them. If there are no trees, the martins can see the hawk coming and then they fly real high so that the hawk does not get above them. In my opinion, I see people recommending 60 to 100 ft from trees, but that simply is not enough for a colony."

I see. Thank you very much! I'll be taking note of this as well.

[Tengai]

We have a red tailed hawk hanging around looking for the abundant baby rabbits and checking out the chickens ( who are locked up). The martins sound the alarm every time and chase him away

[-=DKC=-]

We have a red tailed hawk hanging around looking for the abundant baby rabbits and checking out the chickens ( who are locked up). The martins sound the alarm every time and chase him away

I've always loved hawks. But I had a hawk in a tree very close to my colony today and I'm not loving them as much as I used to.

I wish I could get a good look at this thing so I could know what kind of hawk he is.

[Spiderman]

We have a red tailed hawk hanging around looking for the abundant baby rabbits and checking out the chickens ( who are locked up). The martins sound the alarm every time and chase him away

I would be surprised if the red tail tried to catch a Martin. We have a pair accross the street and actually they help to keep the Cooper's Hawk away. They don't like to share their area with other raptors and will pursue the Cooper's if he gets too close.

Baby bunnies and chickens are definately on his diet, here it is mostly squirrels.

DKC- Martin colonies are like your backyard bird feeder. The larger it grows the more predators it brings. The Hawks think your doing it all for them.

[Tengai]

Well it seems a small hawk, either a coopers or broad wing can’t tell made a visit to the 2 set ups while I was out watching. We have 2 Riggs both apartment style with gourds under all but 2 compartments occupied with eggs all the way up to 2 nests already fledge.
I heard the alarm call and the little _ _ _ _ landed on one rig then the other within seconds pulled a 2 week old out onto porch but was chased away without his prize. Unfortunately he died within minutes. The compartment was one I did not enlarge. I did enlarge some but not all.
Looks like I will be either enlarging all or switching to all gourds with tunnels next year.

[daveh]

Enlarging my compartments did not help on owl attacks but caging with 2x4 inch wire and using gourd rack owl guards did help. I also use 12 gauge wire prongs eight to ten inches long that cover each perching station on top of each pole which also deters owls or hawks from landing. Martins can still land between the prongs.

Dave

[flmike]

I have a unusually large Red Tail hawk living in our cove... I’ve seen him twice take fish from the water, and from 8’ away witnessed him snatch a baby Wren flying back to a nest on our porch! (He was back in less than 5 minutes looking for the next baby Wren).

Yesterday, while watching the pm’s coming and going from the tree tops by the water, the hawk lit in a dead pine that had pm’s perched in it.. they didn’t fly, in fact several more lit within 6’ of the hawk. After a few minutes he swooped down toward the water, but didn’t get anything, and off he went. The pm’s continued to come and go as usual.

[TheSmiths]

Do owl cages around the housing also help at all with hawks?

I can't speak from firsthand experience but I've read owl cages can help prevent hawks from snatching the martins off housing and it gives them someplace to retreat to. It also creates an obstacle that gives the martins time to out-maneuver the hawk while they get into the sky. It certainly couldn't hurt.

It's strange because sometimes the birds here chase off the resident red-shouldered hawk and sometimes they don't. If I see it I just walk into the yard and he flies away. It prefers larger prey but will take a bird if an easy meal presents itself. It took an unusually loud robin fledgling several weeks ago. (I told my spouse a few days earlier it wasn't yelling "feed me" it was yelling "eat me"). It was sad watching the adult robins calling and chasing after it. One of the red-shoulder's fledglings (I'm guessing) spent a couple of mornings sitting on our fence but none of the birds paid much attention to it. It was in an area frequented by rabbits and squirrels but it did more investigating than hunting — walking around on the ground picking at sticks a mower-chopped pinecones. Eventually the resident mocker half-heartedly took a few swoops at it but it either didn't consider the fledgling a real threat or it was just to darn miserably hot to commit to chasing it.

I shoo the adult when I see it but I always remind myself of the damage an ancipiter did to our flicker population ~10 years ago. It was terrible. I'd much rather deal with the buteos.

[TheSmiths]

Well it seems a small hawk, either a coopers or broad wing can’t tell made a visit to the 2 set ups while I was out watching.

So sorry to hear that.