# A Hawk Terror



## Anton (Apr 4, 2007)

I had three pigeons in my backyard: Two of them (Joey and Joy) were the product of King and Elvee, my non-flying pigeons who live inside the house. The third, Sherman, was rescued and was working on growing more wing feathers in order to fly like Joey and Joy. They were all about four months old.

Joey and Joy were so attached to each other; if one started stretching, the other would do the same thing. They flew around and came back in the evening while Sherman would be looking at the sky waiting for them. The three slept in a cage with a secured door during night. The cage was placed on top of a non-working air-condition compressor. 

One evening, I went outside to check on them, to find that Joey didn’t come back. I had a bad feeling that something might have happened to him, since he and Joy were inseparable. The next day around 6:00 p.m., Joy was flying by herself, while Sherman was on top of the cage, pulling on his growing feathers. When I came back later in the evening to close the cage, I only found Joy. Sherman was gone too. I looked around in the backyard for evidence of any foul play, but there was none. He left, like Joey without a trace.

The next day, I was sitting in my small backyard reading Tale of Two Cities, while Joy was still flying around. There were two doves and some finches picking seeds that fell off my bird feeder outside the backyard fence. All of a sudden, I heard WHOOSH. I look up to glance a hawk fleeing the spot where the birds were eating. I also saw one dove fleeing to the top of my house. It stood there long enough to catch its breath and to figure out where to go, before it fled in terror. (Did the hawk take off with the other dove?) About half an hour later, while I was still sitting in the backyard, Joy came back and was eating and drinking, when suddenly, it looked as if she saw the devil and took to the sky.

I am so depressed and have lost sleep thinking about the fate of Joey and Sherman. The fact that I saw a hawk attacking doves ten feet away from me, and that there were no feathers around in my backyard, convinces me that, probably the same hawk, attacked Joey and Sherman and carried them away. 

Joy hasn’t come back yet! I hope she found a safer place. Below is a picture showing Joey in the front, Joy behind him and Sherman inside the cage.

Anton
http://boktor.us/Webcam/King_Elvee/Webcam.asp


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

Anton,
I love hearing about your experiences with your pigeons but this makes me very sad. I think you have one of the kindest hearts around. I hope that Joey, Joy and Sherman are safe and do eventually come home.
If they do, perhaps you could build them an outside aviary that is secure where they can fly some and be safe. Looking at the cage secured to the compressor, I think it would be vulnerable to daytime and night time predators.

My sister is currently having issues with Hawks for the very first time and she called just as I started reading your post. She called because a Hawk family devoured her baby ducklings and she is heart sick. I have struggled with them for years. In the midst of the pain of the whole thing it's hard to remember that Hawks need to go to the grocery too. I read her your post and she wants you to know that she is hoping your babies return too.
Prayers and fingers crossed for Joey, Joy and Sherman.


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## SmithFamilyLoft (Nov 22, 2004)

Dear Anton,

I am sorry to hear of your experience, with the loss of pigeons from the hawk. Much has been written on these pages concerning hawks, one of the most well read threads was "Dealing With The Cooper" see:

http://www.pigeons.biz/forums/showthread.php?t=9341&page=5&highlight=cooper

Perhaps you can pick up some pointers or at least realize that you are not alone.


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## naturegirl (Nov 7, 2005)

Hi Anton unfortuately hawks love to sneak up on pigeons and grab them, I hope and pray this didn't happen to you and your very precious birds I hope for a safe return. If they are Red tails then the pigeons can out fly a Red tail with no problem as the common pigeon is much quicker in the sky. I will say a special prayer for a safe return but I think you would be better off maybe making a fenced in place for them to stretch their beautiful wings away from harms way. Good Luck remember there is nothing you can do as of now except keep your eyes opened for hawks and maybe let your neighbors know some of your birds have disappeared a hurt pigeon will hide maybe check around all over at ground level even at your neighbors houses. 

Cindy


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

I'm sorry to hear the story about your birds.

To avoid anymore heartache, you might want to consider building them a big aviary, as the hawk population is growing and also..once they know where they can get a good meal, they always come back to try again. 

My pets don't fly..they just don't have the same instincts the homers do.


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## Margarret (May 3, 2007)

I'm so so sorry to hear you lost your birds. I hope they managed to outrun the hawks and are just biding time to return. It is awful to know they are out there and not know what happened to them.

Encouraging crows to live near by helps with keeping hawks away. We have a family of four that live on our property. We feed them a little something pretty much daily so they stay near. If a hawk comes by they chase them away.

I keep my pigeons in a loft with an aviary. Even so, a hawk actually grabbed one of my birds through the wire. He didn't kill him but nearly put his eye out. Now I have a double wire system so that if a hawk slams into the wire there is four inches of space before the claws can get to the pigeon.

I will hold good thoughts that one or more of your birds will return.

Margarret


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