# Got an unpleasant visitor...



## Ricky52 (Mar 17, 2009)

I was getting ready to feed my birds when this guy decided to show up. He really wanted a meal with my birds while swooping down on three separate occasions. Pictures are kind of blurry but can someone help identify it. Initially, I thought it was a Cooper's Hawk. A bit too small to be a Peregrine (perhaps a juvenile)?


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## spirit wings (Mar 29, 2008)

not sure what he is, but if he were any smaller he could get right in thru that wire you have..


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## Ricky52 (Mar 17, 2009)

Yes, I know what you mean. On one occasion, he even slipped his raptors through the wires in an attempt to get my birds. I tell ya, they're getting smarter.


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Ricky52 said:


> Yes, I know what you mean. On one occasion, he even slipped his raptors through the wires in an attempt to get my birds. I tell ya, they're getting smarter.




It's critical that you cover your flight with at least 1/2 inch hardware cloth...1/4 inch would be better. It wil also help keep rodents out which can be just as deadly to your birds. So many of us have leaned that one the hard way.


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## Ricky52 (Mar 17, 2009)

Charis said:


> It's critical that you cover your flight with at least 1/2 inch hardware cloth...1/4 inch would be better. It wil also help keep rodents out which can be just as deadly to your birds. So many of us have leaned that one the hard way.



Note taken, thank you!


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2009)

it looks like a juvie cooper to me , beware they are very brazen and have only one thing on ther minds as you already have seen.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

I'd freak!! Reminds me of when the Golden Eagle landed in my dog pen (which surrounded my pigeon loft)!!
Ya - that fencing is the 1st thing I noticed! He can grab your birds right thru that. I would at least put something on the top for the time being so he can't see your birds and hang something on the sides also so he can't grab them. 
I had chicken wire on the top of my old loft, and Norway Rats came in from the top and killed about 30 of my birds  They found a couple loose staples, and that's all it took!


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## Birdman79 (Aug 9, 2007)

Yup,cooper...


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## FloridaLuv (Dec 19, 2008)

GRRRRRR--- Here's mine.. .making himself quite comfy.....as if he is staking claim to the yard.....

Lokota is right they are VERY VERY Brazen amongst a slu- of words I could add


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

If you were hungry and saw food, you would be brazen too. He just wants to live, just like everyone else. I know, that isn't something that endears them to us, but not their fault either. I feed a feral flock in my yard, and the coopers drive me crazy. The poor birds stopped coming for a couple of months this past winter because there were so many strikes. One actually landed on my foot, trying to catch a pigeon. Unbelievable! Lately, the pigeons haven't been around as much, so the hawks must be back. Too bad, as I have no idea where they are finding food. The coopers are very bold, but as I said, they're just trying to survive.


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## Ricky52 (Mar 17, 2009)

LokotaLoft said:


> it looks like a juvie cooper to me , beware they are very brazen and have only one thing on ther minds as you already have seen.


Yes, very aggressive at it. I think my birds are staying in for awhile. 




Msfreebird said:


> I'd freak!! Reminds me of when the Golden Eagle landed in my dog pen (which surrounded my pigeon loft)!!
> Ya - that fencing is the 1st thing I noticed! He can grab your birds right thru that. I would at least put something on the top for the time being so he can't see your birds and hang something on the sides also so he can't grab them.
> I had chicken wire on the top of my old loft, and Norway Rats came in from the top and killed about 30 of my birds  They found a couple loose staples, and that's all it took!


WOW! Golden Eagle?  I'm pretty sure they're incapable of catching your birds but it'll definitely scare the birds just as much!


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

That's a Sharp-shin. They look almost identical, except they aren't much bigger than a pigeon when compared to a Cooper. Also, Coopers have rounded or wedge shaped tails, and Sharp-shins have flat tips. They're really fast and aggravating. We have a lot of both here.


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## Ricky52 (Mar 17, 2009)

Upon looking at some videos of both raptors, it's kind of challenging to identify the two.  I wish there were a side-by-side comparison between the more mature birds.

I know I got a pretty good look at the hawk when taking those pictures...


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Here are some good shots of both.

http://www.pbase.com/carol_keeler_photo/accipters


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## Ricky52 (Mar 17, 2009)

Thanks Jay! I think that link helped quite a bit. Out on a limb, based on those pictures and the actual hawk that attacked my birds looked more like a Cooper. I recall the chest was vertically-barred.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

It helps to see them together. We get coopers here all the time. Very persistant.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Ricky52 said:


> WOW! Golden Eagle?  I'm pretty sure they're incapable of catching your birds but it'll definitely scare the birds just as much!


Actually he wasn't after MY birds at all - I had one of those big fake owls (filled with rocks) mounted on my fence post. I heard a commotion (rush of flapping wings in the flight cage) and turned around just in time to see this HUGE bird crash land in the middle of my dog pen, and then fly up to a branch over my fantails cage. I ran up to it and tried to scare it away, and it looked at me like I was crazy 
I found my owl in the middle of the pen, about 15 feet from where it was mounted - and my poor dogs were horrified!
Turned out to be a juvenile golden eagle, that wanted to make lunch out of my plastic owl. He hung around the yard for about a week. I knew he was gone when my resident squirrels and blue jays came out of hiding  Never saw anything like it - he was incredible!


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

Ricky, to me he has the face of a cooper.


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## Ricky52 (Mar 17, 2009)

Msfreebird said:


> Actually he wasn't after MY birds at all - I had one of those big fake owls (filled with rocks) mounted on my fence post. I heard a commotion (rush of flapping wings in the flight cage) and turned around just in time to see this HUGE bird crash land in the middle of my dog pen, and then fly up to a branch over my fantails cage. I ran up to it and tried to scare it away, and it looked at me like I was crazy
> I found my owl in the middle of the pen, about 15 feet from where it was mounted - and my poor dogs were horrified!
> Turned out to be a juvenile golden eagle, that wanted to make lunch out of my plastic owl. He hung around the yard for about a week. I knew he was gone when my resident squirrels and blue jays came out of hiding  Never saw anything like it - he was incredible!


Not only did it scare your birds, it terrified your dogs as well.  I've heard many say that those "fake" owls help limit hawk attacks. If that's the case, wouldn't it frighten your birds as well?




Jay3 said:


> Ricky, to me he has the face of a cooper.


Yeah, I can't be sure but that's what I'm leaning toward also. I noticed on a lot of pictures that Short-Shinned Hawks had shorter beaks. The one that attacked my birds had a longer beak.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

How this for a friendly face?


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2009)

yeah this cooper visits me often , I have a sharpie that does too but sharpies here fly off way faster then the coopers do ..








sharpie butt


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

That's a great shot Lokota! Yes, they can be very stubborn.


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## Msfreebird (Sep 23, 2007)

Ricky52 said:


> Not only did it scare your birds, it terrified your dogs as well.  I've heard many say that those "fake" owls help limit hawk attacks. If that's the case, wouldn't it frighten your birds as well?


MY birds are use to it and I think they are smart enough to know its fake by now. But I did have to move it to the back corner because the small yard birds, chickadees, nuthatches and hummingbirds stopped coming to my feeder when it was in full view.
I had initially set it up for rodents - rats and mice. I stringed feathers to it so the wings would "flap in the breeze"!


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## Ricky52 (Mar 17, 2009)

Those are excellent still-shots! Amazing birds but definitely not the friendliest. 



Msfreebird said:


> MY birds are use to it and I think they are smart enough to know its fake by now. But I did have to move it to the back corner because the small yard birds, chickadees, nuthatches and hummingbirds stopped coming to my feeder when it was in full view.
> I had initially set it up for rodents - rats and mice. I stringed feathers to it so the wings would "flap in the breeze"!


With the recent hawk attacks, I might consider putting one up at the corner of my roof. I've seen some videos of these fake owls getting attacked by hawks.


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## c.hert (Jan 15, 2010)

always wondered what they looked like--we get them flying through here once in awhile but I have never seen one get a pigeon--never want to see one either---but sometimes I see the results of a pigeon being got...Thanks for those pictures and I sure don't want to see any shin shin"s either....I don't leave my birds free and I do have some very good racing pigeons (belguim) but I am just too attached to them for freedom...My one Belguim pigeon is called Pedigree (I named it)(3 years old)...


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