Well, THAT doesn't happen every day

[Koz]

I was at work this afternoon when my son, Matt, called me with a bit of excitement in his voice.

 

We have some big windows on the back of the house that overlook the lake, but because it has been cold out we keep the thermal curtains drawn. But today it was sunny and the temperature got to the upper 60's, so he opened the curtains and then put a blanket on the floor so our dog Boomer, a small Chiweenie, could take a nap in the sun.

 

So with Boomer sprawled on the floor and Matt sprawled out on the couch, they both relaxed until a loud BANG startled them both. It seems that a hawk spotted Boomer and swooped in only to crash into the window. Luckily, the window didn't break. Both Matt and Boomer were a bit shaken, and the hawk flew off and perched on a small foot bridge on our property. Matt said the hawk sat there staring into the window keeping an eye on Boomer. Matt finally had enough, went outside, and scared off the hawk.

 

I'm out back in the yard and on my dock with my dog all of the time, and more than once I've seen a hawk camp out on my shed eyeing the dog. I might have to put up a few decoy owls or hang some old, shiny CD's or something like that to try and deter the hawk from hunting in my yard.

[padlin]

I think about it sometimes when I take our Maltese out back, we have hawks frequently that sit in the trees as well as the occasional owl at night. When I get concerned I use leash, but that’s only when I’m thinking about it.

 

We also get birds running into the big side windows, probably bolting from the hawks. I put on https://www.collidescape.org/ this past spring, so far so good. 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Koz said:

small Chiweenie

What breed of dog is a Chiweenie?  I've never even heard of it.  Must be pretty small if a hawk thinks it can make an attack.

[RipzLipz]

4 minutes ago, gimruis said:

What breed of dog is a Chiweenie?  I've never even heard of it.  Must be pretty small if a hawk thinks it can make an attack.

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=chiweenie 😎

[Koz]

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

What breed of dog is a Chiweenie?  I've never even heard of it.  Must be pretty small if a hawk thinks it can make an attack.

Chihuahua / Dachsund mix.  It's this guy right here:

[padlin]

Took a minute to click.😁

[TnRiver46]

We’ve got an eagle nest near the house and I always hear horned owls as well. The eagles have zoomed the roof many times, they don’t seem to mind human activity

 

I was walking down an abandoned train track toward the river today and a hawk flew right above the tracks maybe 15 feet off the ground and right over my head. We looked at each other in what seemed like slo mo, freaked me out a little. I don’t know what kind of hawk, red shouldered maybe. 

[Eric 26]

@Koz 

The Hawks have no chance at any of my dogs but when my kids were young we were eating dinner with my kids facing the patio doors when they both asked why is the fence bleeding, as it turned out the resident hawk was feasting on a rabbit nest from our backyard neighbor and enjoying his meal while perched on the fence 😬 thankfully the kids weren’t too freaked out. 

[throttleplate]

years ago a male pheasant flew into a very large store front facing window where i worked at in north dakota and broke its neck. Brought it home and ate it. When i was working in san francisco as a mechanic a fellow employee on his way to work came upon a freshly hit deer on the roadway, he put the deer in his truck brought it to work .

He hung the deer up on a forklift and cleaned it on his own time. Later that week we had a meeting and heads rolled, no more road kill allowed into shop and the guy was transferred to another branch.

[RipzLipz]

I see lots of birds of prey around here. Bald eagles, a few different kinds of hawks, merlins and kestrels sitting along power lines when driving through the countryside. Most of the hawks around the neighborhood seem to target other birds, even with all the squirrels & rabbits around. I was out back mowing during the fall a couple of years back & noticed what appeared at first to be cottonwood seeds blowing around, but I was fairly certain it was the wrong time of year for that to be occurring. It eventually bugged me enough to take a closer look & it ended up being down feathers coming from one of our trees. I looked around & found this guy up in our silver maple just tearing into a bird. After a minute or so it noticed me & turned to get a look at me. Due to markings on the chest, I think it’s immature & either a Cooper’s or sharp-shinned hawk.

[Mike L]

We have a Gator family hanging around the canal that comes cruzin by every so often. 
 

You guys think you have problems!

😀😀

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Way north bass guy]

We had the exact same thing happen a few years ago, but with our cat. He was walking by the big window in our living room and a huge great horned owl swooped down and slammed into the glass. Didn’t break it, thank goodness. 
We had a bird feeder just about 10’ out from that window, and I’m pretty sure the owl was hanging out in the trees looking for a bird or squirrel and saw the cat, so he went for it!

The owl rolled and flopped around on the ground for a few seconds, stood up and shook his head, then flew up into the tree. He hung around for a few days, but never tried to go for the cats again😏. 

[gim]

1 hour ago, RipzLipz said:

Most of the hawks around the neighborhood seem to target other birds, even with all the squirrels & rabbits around.

Same here.  Tons of rabbits, squirrels, and chipmunks on and around my property.  There are several small hawks that often dive bomb the bird feeder in my yard and my neighbors yard.  It's actually pretty interesting to see occur.  They are exceptional hunters.  When they come diving in, the birds in the feeder fly off, and the hawk will take them out mid-air.  Then the hawk flies into a tree or bush with the bird and consumes it.

 

One of the hawks is quite small.  It's only the size of a pigeon.  I am not sure what the species is but it goes after small birds like sparrows and chickadees.

[Koz]

3 hours ago, Mike L said:

We have a Gator family hanging around the canal that comes cruzin by every so often. 
 

You guys think you have problems!

😀😀

 

 

 

 

Mike

I live in the SC Lowcounty for decades. I've been stalked and chased by gators while bank fishing. Good times.

[OmegaDPW]

2 hours ago, Koz said:

I live in the SC Lowcounty for decades. I've been stalked and chased by gators while bank fishing. Good times.

 

 One of my favorite memories was fishing Loxahatchee in Florida as a kid. The gators learned that they could get an easy meal from the bank fishermen. One day an older guy (probably my age now) pulled a chair up to the water's edge and hooked a panfish or something. That gator grabbed it about a foot away from him when he was reeling it in. He threw his rod at the gator and fell out of the chair backwards. Everybody but him laughed. The gator bit the panfish in half and he was spared his rod. I actually saw him numerous times after that, but much further up the bank. 

[GRiver]

My sister let her chihuahua out one night, an owl swooped down and grabbed it right in front of her. It dropped it about 3 seconds later. They had a to take it to the vet, dog is fine,  it traumatized my sister more than the dog….. but it still won’t go out at night. The dog not my sister.

[TnRiver46]

^im sorry but that was hilarious 😆 

 

glad all parties are somewhat unhurt 

[HenryPF]

I don't have hawks, eagles, owls or coyotes in my area, but I got this so those pesky kids don't touch my dogs.

 

 

LOL - I just googled "coyote vest" as I have seen these before.

 

 

[TnRiver46]

@HenryPF, where on earth can you possibly live without all of those animals, the North Pole ? Haha

[RipzLipz]

@gimruis The bird of prey you’re describing sounds like either a merlin or kestrel, both of which resemble a falcon. Other than color differences, the merlin is larger, anywhere from 8-14" tall. The kestrel is slightly smaller, 8-12" tall.

 

Merlin:

 

Kestrel:

[Way north bass guy]

We have a family of kestrels that nest here every year. There’s a nest box on a hydro pole right across the road from us, and they come back every year and usually have at least 4 babies. They are really cool to watch flying around our place all summer. Lots of open fields around here for them to hunt. I’ve seen them drop straight down from about 50’ up, almost like they’ve been shot, then come back up with a mouse or small bird. They also get tons of insects, grasshoppers and such. 

[gim]

@RipzLipz the ones around my house look like the Merlin. They don’t have the lighter brown color of the kestrel.

[RipzLipz]

@Way north bass guy Kestrels are pretty cool looking birds. I’ve not had the opportunity to see them hunt, just see them perched overlooking farmland & grazing pastures.

 

@gimruis I’m not an expert by any means but I believe both are closely related to falcons. I kept seeing a bird gliding at high speeds & low levels between houses around here. It was too short to be a hawk & I could see banded stripes on the undersides of wings & tail feathers. If it landed in a nearby tree, it would always fly off before I could get a good look at it. Finally, I was able to see one while looking out the window from inside the house. If it wasn’t a merlin then it was a falcon. More of a shade of gray or black on the back vs. brown from what I could tell. I mainly see them go after other birds, on occasion flying at high speed straight into tall brush/bushes around houses where other birds (sparrows, house finches, etc.) are living in large numbers. You can hear the birds chirping loudly sounding the invader alert calls.

 

Last November, I spotted another merlin, perched about 10’ up in one of our trees, quietly watching 2-3 squirrels feeding below around the tree. The squirrels were either oblivious or just didn’t care. I grabbed my iPhone & took a video as I walked out into the back deck & snagged some images of it flying off as I walked closer.

 

 

 

The kestrels I see around this area more colorful compared to a merlin & practically match the pic I posted above in coloration. I usually don’t see them in the neighborhood but rather in rural areas, often perched on telephone/electrical wires overlooking fields. These birds, to me, are noticeably shorter compared to the merlins. Very neat little birds.

 

I see many birds of prey while driving around. Probably the neatest I can recall was seeing a small hawk or merlin hovering for 15-20 seconds in mid air over a ditch along a winding 2 lane state road over by the strip pits I fish. It finally tucked its wings & dove down into the ditch & landed on something to kill it. Vicious little thing.

[throttleplate]

Can someone tell me why this happens, are the crows afraid of gettin eaten? Are crows ballsy bad azzz? Last fall i saw a medium sized hawk type bird sittin in a tree and the black crows were going nuts chirping making a fuss, then 2 big crows went at it and chased it away and escorted it away untill it was gone fom sight.

 

 

[GaryH]

17 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

Can someone tell me why this happens, are the crows afraid of gettin eaten? Are crows ballsy bad azzz? Last fall i saw a medium sized hawk type bird sittin in a tree and the black crows were going nuts chirping making a fuss, then 2 big crows went at it and chased it away and escorted it away untill it was gone fom sight.

 

 

It’s called mobbing. Crows will do it to owls, hawks and eagles. They do it to drive the predator away.