can anyone tell me ?

[ALF]

Bear in mind that hawks and falcons do not reguritate their food. They must carry their kills to the nest to feed their young. They do this by tearing bits off and offering it to their little ones. This is significant because it tells you that the female sparrow hawk will be out of the scene after laying and during the rearing period. Sparrowhawks, both sexes, can not carry a pigeon, as far as I know.

 

 

A hen Sparrow hawk carried my Garden fantail  right down the field before dropping it. :(   Garden fantails are lighter than racing pigeons and it had already eaten some of my bird. :-/

 

Yes the hen Sparrow hawk can carry pigeons i've seen it do it myself...How far i dont know :-/ but certainly far enough away so i could'nt jump on it's heid : : : : : :

[rebel]

have a loft in the east side of the country some folk on here think they only live in the west

[blaz]

has any one noticed that they tend to come around about the same time of day when they are hunting I noticed this a few years ago and work to their timetable  I live in a small village the  nearest loft to me is about a mile away  he gets hit a lot more than I do I only see the one S/hawk these days about 8 in the morning and at 4 in the afternoon , about 10 years ago I was hit three time s inside 40 minutes despite three men in the garden with me at the hut I suppose the dogs would have been there as well in short put the birds out for about an hour  on the hungry side so you can get them in if you dont keep them fit they have no chance  open bowl is an invitation to disaster  the guy near me is proof of that.

encourage crows to stick around your place they go for hawks for fun,

3 times in 40 mins probably a youngster i think

 

[blaz]

a good few year a go i had a pigeon that if the hawk was about he would fly at it.i told local fancier about it.he said if the pigeon is next to the hawk the hawk can,t strike it . i seen him do this 3 or 4 times then one day out the back he came over the house and flew strait through the bob wires. the hawk right on his tail turned up just before bob wires and hit edge of roof and landed in neighbours garden .probably badly winded if i had been quicker i might have got it but standing with mouth a gape for a minute or two it got its self together and flew off needles to say pigeon did not come in one day. so i put it down to bad timing on his part but i would like to have seen it ........pigeons name was norman for the people on that knew him

[Peckedhen]

sorry to hear about your fantail pecked hen  ive heard that hen sparrowhawks can carry pigeons away but havnt actually seen it yet and hope i dont have to   some of my neighbours already think im a bit of a nut job after running through their gardens trying to save my birds from the hawk but i dont know what they would think if i started running up ladders onto the roofs trying to snatch back a pigeon from the hawk :-/   the things we have to do to protect our pigeons                                 debbie  

 

It was a real shock Debbie, I've read about attacks on here but, I think that I thought I was immune - nearly four years of the birds out in the dovecote and never a sign of one. I was amazed how big it's wing span was too - I thought they were only small, this one must have been 30" across!

The image of you running through the neighbourhood gardens made me laugh.  I do hope you manage to solve the problem.

Sue

[hotrod]

When you lose enough pigeons-dollars-team you will get "serious" and stop the hawks.

If the hawk drops the bird---he will come back for it----hide with your gun---problem solved---AND don't get caught unless you enjoy being in a CELL.

 

only problem here don is we are no allowed to have a gun , not like the states anyway, an airgun yes but deadly weapons no but i like the way you think

[Guest Owen]

I saw a guy with the trap shown by Don. Believe me it not only works for S/H but also for crows, magpies and I even saw a blackbird in it. Obviously the blackbird was not hurt and catching it was unintentional. The chap told me that the best way too attract the hawk to the garden, obviously to a place where you can get at it, was to have a small number of colourful small birds in an aviary. Canaries, budgies or cockateils are ideal. The advantage of the budgies and cockateils is that they scream the place down if they see a raptor. About 15 year ago I bred a lot of birds for sale. I had a small farm and the birds were kept in large avairies dotted about in the field behind the house. Sparrow Hawks were a constant problem, not that they could get at the birds, just that they were always about. The birds I listed above were always a big attraction to them. In those days I used to have a way of trapping them, which I wont go into now, and after I had told them off I would release them away from the area. Then there would be peace for a while and then the birds would start up their screaming again and I would know that another Hawk had decided to pester the birds again. The whole thing became a tried and tested routine. It was about that time I told a couple of young lads about the problem. After that they would look for and find the nests. I don't know for sure what they did, but put this way, the hawk numbers suddenly dropped.  

[Guest shadow]

It's no longer just pigeon flyers that have a problem its 2 years since I packed in and have noticed that the sparrow hawks are now tearing into the small birds that come to my feeding station in the back garden. We are now down to a few brave sparrows when last year we had many different birds feeding here and I live in open country side :( :(

[hotrod]

It's no longer just pigeon flyers that have a problem its 2 years since I packed in and have noticed that the sparrow hawks are now tearing into the small birds that come to my feeding station in the back garden. We are now down to a few brave sparrows when last year we had many different birds feeding here and I live in open country side :( :(

 

they have always done that mate its when there is no many wee birds left thats when they tear into our pigeons .

[NW USA]

dont think im being funny mate , as i have a theory , well my dog a german shepherd is out the back with the birds when they are out every time , and i have never had a hawk strike at the loft , but my pal down the road about 400yrds gets hit all the time WHY? he has not got a dog ,a friend across the water in alexandria club had a jack russell dog in his compound for years no hawk strikes in all that time, it had to get put down and within 2/3 weeks he had a bird killed by a sparrowhawk, i think the hawk comes past to survey they area and see's the dog and thinks hey if i hit one of those doo's and land in that garden that dog might get me and does'nt bother and goes to an easier prey, just my theory.

You have your pigeons trained to not fly away from your house? They never fly over to your buddies? Thats interesting.

 

[widowhooder]

been hit with hawks at the loft for years and have a g shephed and a jackrussel out all the time  think u just lucky if u dont get a hit

[widowhooder]

been hit with hawks at the loft for years and have a g shephed and a jackrussel out all the time  think u just lucky if u dont get a hit