Coppers hawk has my colony under attack

[Cheryl S]

Judy and others, I am sorry for your losses to hawks. I too have lost many many fledglings, as well as a few adult birds this season due to Cooper's hawk attacks. As soon as the fledging started there were multiple attacks on the colony every few hours. Most of the attacks were successful for the hawk and took place in the air, or on the power lines by my colony where the parents had parked some of their young while they worked with another. A few were taken from perching on the racks. Another problem caused by the constant attacks is that the new fledglings get separated from their parents and become orphans. I have had numerous orphans that wander around the colony begging for food. By the time they are so weak and dehydrated they can't fly and I'm able to pick them off of the ground, they are too weak to be saved, though I try. My winter project is to enclose everything in wire cages. It will save a few, but nothing can be done about the air attacks. My colony is in the country so I have tried the boat air horn, screaming and even shooting a shotgun in the air (away from any birds), but nothing deters the attacks. Out of 350+ young, I would estimate that only 1 or 2 per nest will make it to the Tulsa roost.

I understand the premise of survival of the fittest, but these fledglings have no chance to get fit. There was a sticky note on the forum last year for people to report predation, but it is no longer showing. I would certainly report my losses if it was still available.

Sorry for the long rant, but it's so very disheartening.
Cheryl

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

Cheryl,
I just read your post. Thanks for sharing what you are going through. It really helps others, including myself, to know we are universal in this problem. Looking more and more like it's not necessarily a location problem (although a big factor). Too darn many coopers.
Well, I'm thinking about you and all that you do to try and be a good caring landlord.
So frustrating, times like these. I'm heading outside now. I'm missing a couple of sy parents who just might be staying away because of hawk pressure. 23 DO babies..
Like you, just do what I can do to get through this year.
Judy

[taxidermy lady]

Stay hydrated outside Judy. Maybe a wet towel around your neck will help. Being outside is dangerous for long periods of time! It is so humid, no breeze, it almost takes your breath when you walk out of the house! I'm thinking of you a lot! Hang in there Hun! Maybe it's to hot for the hawk to chase! We can only hope! Take care!

[John Miller]

I wonder if some kind of vocalization of a hawk would deter the Cooper's.

My first thought was a Cooper's distress call, but have not found much online.

did find a red tail hawk calling... and they and Cooper's Hawks avoid each other. I've observed each species chasing the other in Forest Park.

found this...might be worth a try if you have some way to record and set it up like the dawn song. I don't know how to do that..

Anyone think this approach might help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zy1haXs0Eo

John

[warbird]

I see a hawk here every once in awhile chasing the pm's. It's hard telling how many pm sites that hawk watches every day. Twenty miles wouldn't even be a challenge for a hawk to fly and hunt, that's a long way, by the way a bird flies. I'm sure the hawk knows exactly where to check for fledglings. Sorry for the loss. I think you should hang in there, that same hawk is probably in town doing the same thing to other colonies that are not being taken care of like yours. Maybe someone will think of a fix but it's hard to stop it in the air.

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

Hey Sharon,
I really appreciate you thinking of me. I'm careful outside. Lots of water, quick pops back inside, mostly just sitting and listening. It WAS hot today. But I am martin landlord, I am driven. Serious hawk watch started at 7 pm. The birds took off after something, then circled two blocks down the street from me. Nothing came my way that time, but they stayed in the air, cautious . Slowly more martins joined in. Larry and I are at our lookout positions trying to watch in opposing directions. By 8pm there are at least 75 martins in the air, circling closer and closer. They start dropping down into the houses, small groups at a time, while the others circle. More birds come in from different directions, from the park, from the middle of town, from the farm fields at the end of the street. The noise level is unbelievable. I listen to them figure out who goes where but I do not watch. I'm doing my best to spot a sneak attack. Tonight we were lucky. Who knows about tomorrow. But I will be out there again. I rearranged the decoys, got my music going and came in to a nice cool house.

John,
The Audubon guide on my kindle has samples of coopers hawk vocalizations, about 12 seconds of each. Played once outside and the martins did NOT care for it. Played it for the inside cats, wowza, did they take off.

Warbird,
Oh you know that hawk gets around. I wonder how many coopers there would be in say a 5 mile radius? When I walk around town and the cooper swinging from tree to the feed mill then out to fields and the newer subdivisions, is that the same hawk that will fly over later in the day?
Anyway, enough of my ramblings.
Judy

[Cheryl S]

Judy,
I'm glad you had a hawk free evening. Same thing at my colony last night. I am down to just 5 remaining nests and only have about 60 birds hanging around the colony in the mornings. I think they are sleeping in trees at night.

You mentioned that some of your racks are caged or have wire protecting the cavities and that you witnessed birds being taken while feeding a baby. Do you think the wire cages helped protect the birds from any of the attacks? I was planning to enclose my racks this winter, but wonder how much protection they provide from hawks. I know they will benefit from owl predation.

Also, if you do decide not to continue your colony next year, do you think you might keep one house to enjoy a smaller colony? I am considering cutting back significantly next year. I had very little hawk predation in 2015 when I only had 45 pair.

Again, I am so sorry for what you are dealing with.

Cheryl

[taxidermy lady]

You sure are Judy. You are truly dedicated. You are a great mentor for me! It shows me its a lot of work to do it right and keep them safe. I've been outside all summer when I can be just so they see my presence!
Maybe it was to hot for the hawk to be mean! I was reading about hanging cd's from gutters, trees, houses etc. They blow in the wind and the hawk sees them as danger. A pack of blank cd's on some fishing string would be something different to detour him.. Maybe! Goodluck!

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

Cheryl,
My trendsetter has wire guards covering each side of the house. My t14 has wire covering each individual side. I don't have big cages like some. The intent was to keep birds from being plucked from the porches or to keep owls from reaching in. I just have standard owl guards on the gourds. The wire does help. The parent bird was on the power line waiting to jump in to feed. The young all fledged with the other parent and have been coming back in the evening.
Like you, I have five nests yet to fledge. I worry more about the adult birds than the young. They won't survive if the parents are gone. One nest still has two weeks before the 26 day mark. A feisty sy pair. The male destroyed three other nests just so he could have the whole side of the t14 .
I'm doing what I can. Most of it I can't control, try as I may. I will have a few months to think about the future of this site. You hang in there also.

Judy

[~Ray~Gingerich]

Judy I still have some of the netting up across the base of some trees I planted along the road here's a picture at 40ft distance

This is a picture of how I tied the poles to Tposts

This is a close up of the netting, it's not like the snake netting, is more stiff and heavy duty.

[Cheryl S]

Judy,
Thanks for your response. I have similar protection on my houses and gourd racks and actually most hawk catches I observed were in the air or on power lines. I did see 2 fledglings caught that were perched on top of my Gemini rack. A wire cage would help only if they would perch inside or drop down inside when warned the hawk was around.

Thanks again and you hang in there too.
Cheryl

[Larry A Kronemeyer]

Great informative pics Ray! Thanks a bunch, very clear on how to do and what to use. I'm amazed nothing gets caught in the net, but then I've used stuff like that on my garden pond an have only had to rescue one or two frogs and a wren over the past 12years.
Thanks!!!!
Judy

[Gun]

Can you find a Falconer in your area? At the Martin Festival in Camrose one of the speakers stated that could be an Option to get rid of Hawks and other birds of prey. Obviously legal up here in Alberta. Not sure about your state.

[marcus]

Have you ever heard of using a dancing man? It is sold to keep gho away. One man said how he was loosing 2 to 3 martins per night until he put up the dancing man and he never saw it again. It is sold with a generator to fill it with air and a timer that starts it at 10 pm and goes till 6 am. I assume you could adjust that for day time use.

Andy Troyer calls it a dancing man. It is one of those big tall plastic things filled with air that blows in the wind. I've seen them at car dealers when they're running a special of some sort.

Marcus

[Curtis Reil]

Geeze that's some rough stuff you folks are dealing with down there. Wish you the best of luck in deterring attacks. Hawk pressure up this way hasn't been as bad as last year. More often than not it is Sharp Shins but every so often a Cooper's will make their presence known. Pressure always increases around fledging time. I don't know if the buggers do the earlier passes just doing recon to try and figure out the heavily used escape routes used by the martins but they don't seem near as aggressive early vs fledging time. We have 23 nests due to fledge in the next 10 days and pretty much a nest every day after that so I can foresee some increased vigilance will needed on my part. A target rich environment for an accipiter.