# Is it possible to frighten away a sparrow hawk?



## BHenderson

I have been asked by an old lady that feeds many birds in her garden, if there is some way she can frighten off a sparrow hark that is preying on the birds she feeds?
The sparrow hark has killed a number of pigeons, and the lady does not know if to leave the bodies for the sparrow hawk, or if to pick them up.

If anyone has information on this, or can point me in the direction of useful information, I would be grateful. This lady takes great pleasure in feeding the birds in her garden, and it is being spoilt by the presence of this sparrow hawk.


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## Jay3

If the pigeon is already dead, then I would leave it for the hawk. He is only doing what nature intended him to do, and trying to survive. Even if he doesn't get the food he has killed, he still knows it's there, and will come back. By removing the dead bird, the hawk will just have to kill again to replace it. Not really all that much that she can do, unless she feeds them when they come and stays out there till they are done and leave. Even then, the hawk could grab one with her right there. But they might have a better chance.


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## BHenderson

That seems the obvious solution to me as well, that she should be out there when she is feeding the pigeons so the sparrow hawk is less likely to attack. She has some disability, so I don't know if this is a practical solution. I will ask her and find out.


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## Jay3

I feel for her. We feed a feral flock here, but as winter goes on, they all but stop coming. The hawks are so bad. The flock gets smaller and smaller, and most times they are afraid to come down off the roof to feed. I keep the feeder filled though, so when they dare to, they get get nourishment. By spring, the flock is down to a small number. Sad. I know some get caught by hawks, but I'm sure many starve also. Winter is hard on them. I had a coopers hawk land on a pigeon at my feet, and he was trying to get a better footing on him and kept hitting my foot with his wings. I chased him, and he took off with the poor pigeon. I chased them, and they only got about 4 feet, and the pigeon escaped. I hope he was okay, but I'll never know.


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## RockPigeon<3er

... Well, the only way I could see that preventing the sparrow hawk from killing pigeons AND not risk the sparrow hawks life (good food source, happy hawk. Bad food source, sad & thin hawk ) would be to feed the sparrow hawk. Is that even legal? She'd have to either teach it to eat raw meat (like beef, but I'm not sure if it'd recognize it as food) or say, get dead pigeons/chukars/chickens etc. and just hang it up and let the hawk eat that instead.

Honestly, that sounds pretty cool to feed a hawk.


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## BHenderson

I might try to feed the hawk, but I cannot see this old lady wanting to do that. It is difficult because it must be horrible for her if she feels she is attracting the birds to her food only to be killed by the hawk. It must make her feel guilty. When I have a bit more time I am going to search the internet for more info.


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## Jay3

I'm sure it does make her feel terrible, but if there were a way to scare hawks away that actually worked for any amount of time, all the people on here who fly pigeons would know about it, and they wouldn't be losing any birds.


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## hamlet

Hello. I heard something the other day on tv. The blue berry people were playing injured sparrow sounds on the mikes in hopes of scaring the sparrows away. It was working perfecteley. How to get a sound of an injured sparrow hawk and play it on the speakers outdoors? Thanks.


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## RockPigeon<3er

Hamlet I don't think that's how it works... The sparrows think there's an injured sparrow, and therefore predators, so the other sparrows stay clear. Playing an injured anything will only attract predators..


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## Jay3

Accept the fact that as long as the hawks are hungry, and they know there is food there, they are going to come. Nothing you can do about it. They are worse at certain times of the year. Just a fact of life.


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## Abdulbaki

Hi, IME predators will adjust with whatever technique you use, they have to to survive...
I have lately witnessed my pigeon got impacted by a hawk and got killed, I couldn't do anything so, I'm no better than you almost all the fanciers have been in situations alike before so ...

Some people hang colored discs, some types of lasers can scare a hawk if you shoot correctly, while some use real guns which is not an available choice for me as it's not allowed in the city, controlling your pigeons flying time by locking them up when not available is a way, but I don't think It's an available one for the lady as she just feed the birds outdoors, but as said above the hawks will find an opening & then you have nothing to do but to watch ...


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## sdymacz

feed crow, bluejays, mocking birds, they will make noise when hawk is near, then crows will chase it off


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## BHenderson

I must agree with the majority view, I think there is little the lady can do. I do like the last suggestion by sdymacs, I am going to look into attracting these type of birds. Crows are common round here and it may be possible to attract them to her garden. Thanks all for your input.


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## Jay3

That isn't going to help unless the crows are nesting there. They will protect their nest. What makes you think the crows will be there when the hawks fly in? I'm sorry, but really not much she can do. I know it's difficult, but it's nature.


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## BHenderson

The pigeons and crows tend to stay together round here, if she starts to put food out for the crows as well then they will turn up at the same time the pigeons do for feeding. If there are a few crows around it could act as a deterrent.

I personally like feeding the crows as well so it works on both levels.


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## Abdulbaki

If you feed both crows and pigeons there is an opportunity that a fight would occur and then you have to deal with crows eating your pigeons, crows are messy and annoying I wouldn't feed them, we already have so much of them and still hawks attack my pigeons!


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## tbmama

I tend to agree with jaye on this, the hawk is just doing what it needs to to eat and survive and there isn't a whole lot you can do to stop that. I have a chicken hawk hanging around at times and he also picks off small birds, and as heartbreaking as it is to see, I think it also wises up the other birds to predators so they don't fall victim. Predators are important for teaching birds to be more cautious (a good thing), and I can't blame the hawk for doing this, although I would prefer if he targetted some of the mice and rats in the area instead, but he is an awesome creature up close, quite menacing looking but just as the doves have a right to feed and exist, so do the hawks imo. we get squeamish about animals killing other animals but this is just part of life out there in the wild. he's a meat eater and other birds are a big part of his diet and as bad as I feel for the birds who get taken, I try to accept this as part of the natural cycle of things and I try not to put one species above another in that regard. perhaps you could tell the woman that this is just part of the natural scheme of things and that other birds will become more aware of the danger (I suspect this is why my hawk comes and goes, the birds wise up and it gets harder to catch them, and then months later he comes back again). 

ps. I do know the feeling of wondering if he was going to decimate the small bird species in my garden, but it's never happened, I suspect he grabs the ones which aren't paying attention when he strikes (he hides in the garden and quickly flies up from behind to grab them when they are perched somewhere, he's quite clever in how he does that so they don't see him coming) but this is how nature works, the strong and the fit survive, while the weak get taken out. It sounds a bit cold and heartless, but nature has a plan in everything it does, and it's far better for the strong and clever to survive for the species.


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## BHenderson

It turns out she does not need my help, someone has given her a trumpet thing with a compressed air bottle. She just makes a loud noise whenever she sees the hawk. She seems happy with this answer. Thank you all for your help.


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## Jay3

Hope it helps her.


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