View Full Version : Uh-oh! Young Cooper's hawk in territory!
After Amigo ate his breakfast this morning, I cut him loose. Tim and I were sitting on the deck, drinking our morning cup of tea, and this young Cooper's hawk lands on the wood railing, about thirty feet from us! YIKES! The lawn sprinklers were on and he was eyeballing them, not noticing us, I imagine he was thirsty. I jumped up, started yelling at him waving my arms, telling him to GET OUT OF HERE! He just flew to the big oak on the lawn :(. Tim jumps up and we both make such a scene that he flew about three trees away.
Tim ran down and started throwing rocks to scare him off down the hill. I called Amigo in, he's back in his cage, safe.
We went back in the house and I started hearing the Cooper's hawk whistle that they make, went back outside and there are TWO of them in Amigo's tree!! Little Frick's! GO AWAY! They look like fledglings, still baby feathers coming through, where the heck is Mama, that's what I want to know?! Needless to say, Amigo will be grounded for a while,,he's not going to like this, not one bit!
He's driving me bonkers! He wants out really bad..I'm going to put him in the outdoor cage, see if that helps his mood :)
That's really scary, Mare :(. I'm so glad that you noticed the hawks and that you've promptly secured Amigo! Hopefully those buggers (and any family or friends they may have) will decide to move on fairly soon. Poor Amigo :(
Thanks, Tony. Well, him being in his outdoor cage has helped MY mood, immensely! :th_biggrin: His...not so much :(. The hawks are still around, we can hear them. Someone told me once, can't remember who, that parent hawks will move their flying babes into new territory and dump them, leave them there and fly off. Has anyone ever heard this, don't know how true it is?
Thanks, Tony. Well, him being in his outdoor cage has helped MY mood, immensely! :th_biggrin: His...not so much :(.I can easily imagine how both of you must feel.
The hawks are still around, we can hear them. Someone told me once, can't remember who, that parent hawks will move their flying babes into new territory and dump them, leave them there and fly off. Has anyone ever heard this, don't know how true it is?I can't answer this specifically. However, I did a quick search on the Cooper's Hawk and found this (from: [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]):
Although pairs typically return to the same nesting area year after year, these Hawks usually build a new nest annually. Replacement clutches are sometimes laid if the first clutch is lost before or at the beginning of incubation. The species usually lays three to five eggs. Incubation takes 30-36 days, and the female does almost all of the incubating. After the eggs hatch, the female broods the nestlings continually for the first 14 days. While the female remains at the nest, the male provides food for her and their young. The female feeds the nestlings and the male usually delivers prey to her. If the female is away from the nest when the male returns, he will drop off food at the nest but will not feed the young.
Young fledge when they are 27-34 days old. Smaller males develop faster and leave the nest earlier than larger females and, overall, western birds appear to fledge sooner than eastern birds. For 10 days after they leave the nest, the young continue to return to the nest to roost and for food. The young remain near the nest and close to each other for at least five to six weeks. During this time, young Cooper’s Hawks gradually begin to hunt on their own.
I also found this:
Q. We have a hawk that comes to our yard on a regular basis, and yesterday he killed a Mourning Dove. How can I get rid of him and keep the songbirds and doves?
A. Hawks that feed on birds apparently take the term bird feeder at face value. If you want to discourage the hawk, you'll have to take your feeders down for a few days, until the smaller birds disperse. In the wild, birds face constantly fluctuating food supplies, so songbirds, doves, and hawks alike will know to search for food elsewhere. Put your feeders up again in a week or two. If you're lucky, the songbirds and doves will quickly return but the hawk will have found hunting grounds somewhere else.
Very interesting stuff, thanks Tony! I saw one of the parents around three hundred yards from the house, in a full on dive going after something. Yeah I'm pretty sure the nest is close by, thankfully they have been doing most of their hunting further down the hill because it's been relatively quiet around here for quite some time. I'm thinking the water sources may have brought the young ones near. I'll be keeping Amigo under lockdown for a while and keep an eye on the traffic in the sky.
On a high note, he and I have been just chillin' together, he really is a cuddle bug and sometimes I forget because he is normally too busy doing his own thing :) this will be a good chance for us to get close, again.
Very interesting stuff, thanks Tony! I saw one of the parents around three hundred yards from the house, in a full on dive going after something. Yeah I'm pretty sure the nest is close by, thankfully they have been doing most of their hunting further down the hill because it's been relatively quiet around here for quite some time. I'm thinking the water sources may have brought the young ones near. I'll be keeping Amigo under lockdown for a while and keep an eye on the traffic in the sky.Maybe in the not-so-distant future the young hawks will go off on their own in search of territories they can call their own. They might be in the learning-to-hunt stage right now, receiving demonstrations and coaching from their parents.
On a high note, he and I have been just chillin' together, he really is a cuddle bug and sometimes I forget because he is normally too busy doing his own thing :) this will be a good chance for us to get close, again.That's a great plan :D. I'm always a fan of dedicating quality cuddle time to our parrot buddies :th_biggrin:
kendrafitz
07-18-2014, 01:36 AM
Ugh!!! That is my nightmare, hawks! So good that you saw them and got Amigo in. Sorry for you both that he will be stuck in his outdoor cage. Hoping they move on quickly!!!
jtbirds
07-18-2014, 02:04 AM
Hey mare from my experience raising pheasants coopers hawks are very relentless.. so just watch
2birds
07-18-2014, 02:18 AM
What a bummer this news is. Hopefully it won't be long before they find another place to hang out. The good news is you and Amigo can have a little more cuddle time. If I come across anything on how to discourage hawks to hang around I'll let you know.
Thanks guys for the kind words of support, much appreciated! Where we live, there are hawks, all kinds of hawks from red-tail, Cooper's and red shouldered hawks. Two years ago, I saw a Golden Eagle perched on a high pine in our yard. Amigo is very aware of his surroundings and will fly in if there may be a threat. When it gets this close to home, though, we now take precaution. I hope they move on soon, that would be ideal!
Hey mare from my experience raising pheasants coopers hawks are very relentless.. so just watch
Justin, a few years back, we had a hawk migration come through our area like NONE I've ever seen before. I thought for sure that if Amigo was to ever be taken out, it would be from one of these relentless Cooper's. They were gnarly! I learned SO much by that experience and thank God , Amigo survived it, he doesn't go out, anymore, when there are Cooper's hanging around.
Today was a very quiet day outside, no sign of the Cooper's. I put Amigo in the larger outdoor cage and he adjusted pretty well, for awhile anyways. He finally figured out that this is NOT where he wanted to be! I have a chair in this cage that I came to sit in and give him some love. He was NOway letting me out without HIM! I brought him back into the house and he decided that Sassy and Chip were better to hang with than an outdoor cage without me in it! :). Anyways, if tomorrow remains clear of Cooper's hawks, he'll soon be free to roam again.
2birds
07-19-2014, 12:47 PM
I hope that they left for good Mare.
So far, still no sign of them. My husband and I are outside more than we are in and the skies have been clear of hawks and their whistles. Tomorrow may be a flying day for Amigo :). YES! :th_biggrin:
The young Cooper's are around but only in the morning, not sure what's up with that. They disappear after that. I know they are probably around but not super close. Amigo could see one, from his cage, in his tree this morning, it was whistling it's whistle and Amigo was not prepared to go out and fight for his territory, no way, not at all! He sat very quiet and just observed. I did, though! I went out and made a fuss! I really don't want them getting comfy around here. I let Amigo out for a bit this afternoon, I was out with him the whole time and life was good. No sightings.
2birds
07-22-2014, 11:06 AM
Maybe if they get assaulted every time they show up they'll find a better place to be. I would be launching stuff at them.
Believe me, Lori, I DO! Tim keeps a big bucket of golf balls in the yard, practice shots, you know :), anyways, we have a dog that fetches them! When I see these hawks hanging out they get a few chucked their way, along with some nasty words! Our dog, Dia, runs down the hill and brings back the balls, good girl, Dia!
2birds
07-23-2014, 12:19 PM
Well, now that I know a lot more about coopers hawks than I did before. The only thing that I can come up with is get rid of everything that attracts them. Birds feeders that attract a smorgasbord for them and such. Also, great horned owls have a taste for hawks. You can put up a fake owl somewhere to scare them off. The downside of that is it might scare off everything else as well and Amigo might take exception to it too.
What I've noticed about these hawks..they don't really hang around for long. We get the fly overs, mostly red-tail hawks, some red-shouldered hawks will land in a high pine but then move off. Amigo, if not snoozing in his hole in the tree, will sound his alarm and fly in at that time. Where we live, side of a cliff, we get pretty good views of what's up in the air. The Cooper's are my biggest concern, mainly because I know how tenacious they can be. The one time Amigo was shot down by a hawk, though, was from a red-tail, therefore, I trust none.
2birds
07-24-2014, 08:59 AM
I would trust none either. Coopers apparently are more of a bird eating hawk than the red tails though. But then, where I used to keep the horses red tails were continuously trying to get the smaller chickens.
The coast has been clear for a while now and Amigo has been enjoying his freedom..except for the heat (112 degrees) and the smoke from the wild fires in the area :(. I let him out for a while in the morn and he is just wilted by eleven and wants back in. I'm beginning to think I want to move to Alaska!
2birds
08-04-2014, 07:41 PM
Brrrr. I lived in Minnesota for a while. Cold is not fun either.
froggij
08-04-2014, 07:59 PM
Nope, cold is not good. My birds hate being so cooped up in Winter and they aren't usually let to fly free in the trees around here because we have a lot of predators. I can't imagine how Amigo would handle six months inside the house, it would even be too cold to kick him out into his outdoor cage to get the stink blown off him, as they say. Glad the coast is clear about those hawks!
Yeah,,I hate the cold weather also but it sure sounds good when you've had 6-8 days in a row of over 100! This summer has seemed particularly brutal. We are into our third year of draught, here in Cali. The oaks have been dropping their leaves like crazy and it's looking like they're not even going to put on acorns! The lakes are so low, the tourist traffic for the town is therefore low. Oh,,did I mention the wild fires?! I'd like to revise my choice of destinations, though. You're right Alaska would be too cold but Bogata, Columbia...perfect 61 degree weather, almost year round! :)
Thanks Jen, yes, Amigo is enjoying being back out. He's out a few hours in the morn and then a couple before dinner time in the late afternoon.
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.