birds of prey

[jimmy white]

IF YOU LOOK AT THE PHOTO   POSTS YOULL SEE ME   WITH THE EAGLE OWL

[jimmy white]

ive  sent my brothers e mail to p basics  , it contains photos of   pretty little song bird,,, in shreds , and of the sparrowhawk,     hes conditioned his top class 100 strong team of canaries, for his first show of the year on sat, and due to the sparrowhawk, entering the door, while he was in the garden     6ft from the door, he now doubts if he can enter any, as they were terrified and now lost condition, after he chased it away , and closed the door he went in for his tea , his daughter shouted to him at the window , but it was too late , the dunnock, as he says, was in shreds.   his canaries are his life to him, idont know if theyll print the photos

[Guest]

Extract from "HERALD" Friday 7th Oct

 

Council hawk tries to steal dog in attack near nursing home

By William Tinning

 

A hawk used by a local council to deter seagulls swooped and grabbed a woman’s pet Yorkshire terrier before trying to fly away with the dog.

 

3 yo Brambles was left with severe injuries after the attack in Aberdeen.

 

The Harris hawk, Aurora, was deterring nuisance gulls from a nursing home when the incident took place.

 

"The hawk was sitting in a tree and as soon as it spotted Brambles it made a dive for her. It all happened in seconds. It sank its talons into her neck and was expanding its wings to fly away again. Brambles was fighting but I thought she was a goner."

 

"I was screaming and crying because I thought I was going to lose her. A hawk trying to eat your dog is the last thing you expect to happen in Aberdeen."

 

The dog was not on a lead when she was grabbed and dragged for 5 feet along the ground. The pet was saved when Aurora’s handler stepped on her wings.

 

Brambles had puncture wounds to her left eye and shoulder and suffered tears in her mouth. She was taken to the vet and treated for shock. The vet said an older dog would never have survived.

 

Ms Milne, the dog’s owner, said the dog will recover. "I hope that steps are taken to make sure that nothing like this happens again. The next time the hawk might go for a child."

 

The hawk’s owners, Hawkman services, apologised for the incident and paid the vet bills. "It is an unfortunate incident and we don’t know what caused it. If a dog is off its lead, the hawk doesn’t associate it with a human and this type of thing can happen."

 

Aberdeen City Council which hired Hawkman Services, investigated and cleared the firm of any wrongdoing.

 

 

Wonder if anyone is going to investigate Aberdeen City Council?   >

 

 

[Webmaster]

ive  sent my brothers e mail to p basics  , it contains photos of   pretty little song bird,,, in shreds , and of the sparrowhawk,     hes conditioned his top class 100 strong team of canaries, for his first show of the year on sat, and due to the sparrowhawk, entering the door, while he was in the garden     6ft from the door, he now doubts if he can enter any, as they were terrified and now lost condition, after he chased it away , and closed the door he went in for his tea , his daughter shouted to him at the window , but it was too late , the dunnock, as he says, was in shreds.   his canaries are his life to him, idont know if theyll print the photos

 

Forwarded Text:

James

Just a short while ago Julia and I spotted a Sparrow Hawk on top of my bird hut (next to the roof window) ripping a Dunnock to shreds.My canaries were crashing of the sides of their cages, then there was an unusual stillness in the birdroom. The first bird show Is next Saturday, but I really don't know if my birds will be ok as I am In the process of show  training my unflighted birds!

You will see from the photographs that the Hawk initially got the Dunnock [not 100% sure it was a Dunnock,it could have been some other type of song bird ) in my back garden, hence the feathers. The Hawk then landed on top of my hut, I had the door open as it was a lovely morning: the damage could have been done then although my canaries may have spotted the Hawk through the roof windows as well.Incidentally, Julia and I attempted to photograph the Hawk with the bird on top of the hut but it flew away.

A question; Julia was about to let her pet rabbit out in the back garden. Could the Hawk have made an effort to get it, her rabbit is a very small cashmere type?

Apologies for the length of this Email but I just wanted to get this terrible incident off my chest.

David

 

Photos Attached.

[Webmaster]

More Photos.

[jimmy white]

i wish that article had been in all the papers,,, and t,v news i,e

bruno post .... didnt notice  mine at first,   brother david couldnt get right photos, but you can just see the sparrow hawk on the hut in the first photo, just.

[Guest]

Jimmy,

 

As I said before, I’m really sorry to hear about the hawk attack in David’s garden.  >

 

The photos are exceptional. What a garden.  

 

But as in my reply to Fifer, his neighbour’s garden is a wildlife garden too, and both gardens look like a small woodland which offers many hidey-holes for a sparrowhawk to launch a surprise attack.

 

Can I suggest David try reflectors or CDs? Local fancier here reduced sparrowhawk attacks from daily to zero since fitting them last year.

 

I can also identify (as a stranger who has never been there) two potential weak points which need urgent protection:

 

(1) The entrance door if left open needs a covering protective wire mesh door. I’d fix  at least 6 reflectors on the mesh door – either mirrors or any shiny metal that’ll reflect light and dazzle – across the width of the door and from top to bottom. Maybe one too on the centre of the window (if its still there).

 

(2) The roof has windows in it. The last thing David needs up there is a sparrowhawk having a meal in full view of the canaries. An upside-down “V”-shaped wire mesh canopy on the roof, with 6 reflecters on each side, across the width and from top to bottom of both big frames, all reflecting upwards. Can’t see either side of aviary, but if its open, reflectors on the ends of the frames too.

 

Can’t see the ‘back’ opposite the house, where the trees are, but something there angled upwards that’ll catch the light and  reflect it onto the house roof.

 

That would cover all the angles of attack that I can see from the photos.

 

BEST REGARDS TO YOU & DAVID

 

 

[jimmy white]

thanks bruno, ill get your post to my brother, the good news is he won best in show and many prizes, i think maybe the photos are slightly deceiving, as the have been taken from the back door of his house, the door you see on left, is the side garage door, but the canary hut that you see is only about one third, the other two thirds are are at the back of the garage, the door you see open is normally closed, he has heating, and air     conditioning , the problem was the sky lights, which ,i beleive he has stuck discs, around, and built cages over, his main problem as you can see is the hawks killing the song birds .he so loves to feed and watch in his garden, but im sure hell explain better than me, but im rure hell be interested in your post,   p,s after reading the other article, he will be worried about these very small breed of rabbits his daughter has.

[jimmy white]

my brother david, has had to stop feeding the songbirds now , the hawk is killing them off day by day, even allthough he has stopped feeding them, hes also made special runs for this small breed of rabbit his daughter has. the sparrowhawk has even killed in the front garden ,next to the road

[Guest Silverwings]

jimmy ,remember the old D.D.T in the round green tin ? hawkes didnt seem to mind it ? but their reproductive gear suffered from it .why do they ban all the good stuff  ,  got to be something similar to leave a nasty taste for them ,get them into not liking pigeon feathers ...... any ideas

[snowy]

HAWK! big brown en! as pigeons flew on loft roof this afternoon, HAWK swooped down chased one of my birds down the bottom of garden, , just clipped it, took a handfull of feathers off & landed 6inches away from my back door & dog! pigeon hid under garden chair its ok though! dog done sod all! & i was running down garden like a madman! hawk just looked at me & flew off with not a care in the world,(pigeon ducked & dived real well)!

PIGEON= 1

HAWK= 0

 

[jimmy white]

keep your eyes open snowy itll be back    be prepared,  good luck

[snowy]

think i should keep them in far a couple of days?  as the one it nearly had was (badwing) he couldnt even fly to the roof at one stage, he has been flying around the loft for 15 mins at a time now, i saved him from his neck being broke, he is the first racer i was given this year. he bloody flew well this afternoon though!

[Guest]

You'll need to keep them in Snowy.  

 

Seems they come back same time next day when they've had a kill or near miss.

[Guest]

Our old friend is back in the BHW letters page 28th October, calling on UK fancy to confine their birds for two seasons. Sees 'opportunity' in the current avian flu crisis.

 

No email address: Hugh Foster, 4 Cromlech Road, Llandudno. LL30 2JW.

 

Echos my own sentiments, would be good to get something positive out of this flu business. Not hoping for the virus, but reckon if it did hit wild bird population, for a single years' lost racing, we would see massive dip in hawk numbers, especially if what we are told about peregrines going to the coasts after migratory wild fowl is correct...hope they like whooper swans, banded head geese and black headed gulls...because H5N1 likes them and hawks too.  

[jimmy white]

while i understand brunos thinking, personally i would think the hawks will still survive and still multiply, there are thousands of feral pigeons to keep them going till the racing started again,its just that perigrines preffer the chase of a racing batch

[jimmy white]

im sorry tam, but i think your post is in bad taste,

[snowy]

yes son(westy) HAWK been back again today waiting in the tree in neighbours garden behind the loft! this has really put me back! as got new late late breds & was letting them out daily prior to this damn hawk!, got internal doors now, so i can leave the main doors open so they can see outside. but really has pi**ed me off!

[snowy]

its took so much effort & good generousity of myself westy & all you members with help & advice! there is no way im letting a damn hawk ruin it all!

[Guest]

Snowy, two things:

 

 

(1) If the hawk is using trees in your / your neighbour's garden, can they be trimmed back? I think you'll find that goshawks and sparrowhawks use tree cover to launch sneak attacks.

 

(2) Have you tried CDs, shiny side facing away from the loft? Clubmate near me put them up last year and reduced attacks from daily to zero...

 

 

BEST WISHES

[snowy]

thanks bruno, will try & trim back trees & bushes in my garden & have a polite word with the neighbour, & will get CDs put up all around the loft, thanks again.

regards

[Guest Doostalker]

Snowy, I posted this a few weeks back on another string about hawk attacks. Hope it helps.

 

 

"Hi The Man, it looks like you were visited by a sparrowhawk in the way you describe the incident. They are originally a woodland bird, and have much in common with their bigger relative the Goshawk. Both are now on the increase and it is reckoned that many spars are now residing in towns.

 

Both spars and gos's like to attack quickly on unsuspecting prey, appearing as if from nowhere, but in fact they usually have been sitting in a nearby tree or bush watching what is going on, and sussing out a victim.

 

The female sparrowhawk is the one which will generally attack pigeons. This is because she is about 30% larger than her mate, called a Musket. He is only big enough to attack thrushes and smaller. At this time of the year there are a lot of youngsters about, which are learning how to catch their prey. If you are "lucky" it will have been a yb and it will probably move on to where it can actually catch something. If you are not lucky it will be a mature female which may well be established in the area and will likely reappear.

 

One way to reduce any attacks is to check around the loft and if there are any trees or bushes where a spar could lie up and recce your location, cut them back/away. That will reduce the chance of an attack.You may need to talk to neighbours as well and ask if they could co operate if there are trees etc in their garden.

 

Where I am I see lots of spars and had a yb attack my birds just a couple of weeks ago. However it was slow and cumbersome, and it was not successful. I could see from its flight speed and feather condition that it was not doing well. It sat on a neighbours wall for about twenty minutes recovering before it flew very weakly away. I would be surprised if it survived the week. A substantial number of them die every year because they have not managed to learn how to take prey.

 

I also regularly see spars fly over the loft and if out my birds just look at them with no apparent fear. I think that they know from the shape of the wings etc that it is a spar, and that their method of attack is to spring out from cover. They need the element of surprise. When they see a peregrine they generally get back on the loft quickly, almost as if they know that the peregrine will attack them in flight.

 

I cut away all the large trees in my garden and most of my neighbours have done the same. They were mostly sycamores. Since then the spar attacks have been few and far between and seldom successful. Your best friends in times like these are usually the smaller birds. They will make one helluva din if they see a spar laying up in cover. Any crows in the are will also mob them fiercely.

 

Hope this helps somewhat."

 

[jimmy white]

i understand your anger about the hawk,, the rspb   [ protection of birds] dont ,no wont, protect YOUR birds i think they should be called the rsDb.  the D for destruction, but i feel for you snowy , youll just have to try all the methods as posted, i wish you luck, jimmy

[Guest Doostalker]

This is a link to the Scottish Executive's report on when they discussed Sparrow Hawks and Racing Pigeons last year (2004). Alex Neil was the MSP who tried to get the legislation amended to allow for fanciers to protect their birds. It makes for interesting reading.

 

 

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/environment/or-04/ra04-0602.htm

 

[snowy]

cheers doostalker, had a read yesterday your old post, very helpfull, thanks, will look at that link now,

i suppose i better get my abba CDs out to put round the loft(lol) well if that dont work i will have to play them! that will get rid of the hawk for sure!(lol)

seriously thanks all.