sparrowhawk

[pigeonchested]

I let my 35 darkness youngsters out at 10.30 today. I went back into the house and put the kettle on. I then went back outside, only to see my youngsters flying all over the place. Remember this was less than 2 minutes since I let them out. I picked two of my youngsters out of my hedge and put them back into the loft, I looked up and saw my youngsters flying in an obvious panic. I heard a flapping noise coming from behind  my garden shed only five yards from where I was standing a hen sparrowhawk was pinning a youngster down and trying to eat it alive, the first thing that came to my hand was one of my steel toe-capped working boots, I threw the boot and hit the target; but the ******* managed to get away. Fortunataly the youngster was unharmed and I was able to pick her up and put her back in the loft. I walked to the back door and heard the kettle boiling.

The point I am trying to make is that this all happened in less than 3 minutes. In my area (West Coast of Scotland) birds of prey are as common as blackbirds.

An awful lot of good pigeon men in this area have gave in to the hawks and took up another hobby.

If things keep going the way they are going in this area pigeon racing will be a thing of the past.

I know that other parts of the U.K. are affected just as bad as us, Wales and Cornwall spring to mind.

I have to leave my house at 5.30 in the morning to reduce the chance of being hit by the perigrine, and now I cant even let my birds fly around my house. Due to the bad weather I have only had 5 tosses so far, and I have lost 4 good birds.

I cant imagine ever being without my pigeons; but it is getting harder every year. ??)  

[Guest coxy]

sorry to hear bout tht m8 is it a regular thing where u live then?

[NANCYVIEWLOFTS]

i had a simlar incedent on thursday i let my first round out then when they were ready to drop i let my second round out they are just starting to get to the loft roof after about five mins as i was sitting with them i acctually saw the hawk coming as it struck i could only wave my arms in panic they all flew in total panic all over the place the hawk chased one but did not get it they were all over the place some behind the dustbins some behind the lofts some under the bath that was leaned up about six flew into ours and next doors windows and a few in the gardens of our neighbours all crouching down in total fright i picked most of them up as they would not move some first and some second rounders the ones that got airbourne took about an hour to land an eventually after about 2 hours they were all back in the loft with only a couple injured that i think had hit the wires i have not had them out since and even on saturday some were hesitant to come off their perch to eat

[Guest coxy]

what area are u frm thn m8 we dnt seem to have much of a problem with them here just the once every so often u see them but i have never had a hawk attack lucky i suppose

[Guest ben]

Pigonchested,

                        Don`t worry about the Sparrowhawk,she is builing herself up to start laying ,she will stop all attacks completely very shortly,and you will be free of her trouble.

    you must sort yourself out a system to overcome the Sparrowhawk problem,very easy done,as long as you know your enemy,so bred later,or if to late this year for that  confine babies till later may in decent size aviary,keep them fat as porkers,with plenty of maize in the diet,so when thet can go out,it will give youa chance to break them..And your old birds will have no problems ,as long as you remember the Sparrowhawk is a Ambusher,hitting your birds,onthe ground,loft ect,or while low coming in to land,so keep them up flying,them when you can see them beginning to thik of coming down,GET THEM IN QUICK,controls the name of the game in this short period.

[Guest]

For what it's worth, I will share some information given to me by a falconer who keeps pigeons also.

 

He has what he calls his sacrificial pigeons, he lets them up half an hour before his race birds to draw the hawks.  The pigeons soon become very hawk smart, especially where the Cooper hawks are concerned, these are similar to sparrowhawks and attack as the birds are landing, they normally use tree cover to hide for their ambush.  these "sacrificial " birds learn to sense the movent of the hawk in the trees or bushes and go very high and will fly until the hawk gets fed up and looks elswhere for prey.  That's when he lets his race birds out.  When he's flying his young birds, he puts a couple of these "sacrificail" birds in with them and they teach the young birds to get up high from a very early age.

 

Another tip he passed on to me (which we couldn't afford to do) was to purchase a Harris Hawk, who are very territorial and put the Harris up an hour before you fly the pigeons, they will clear the area of any lurking hawks, call the Harris in, then put your birds out.  A trained Harris would have cost us about $20,000 plus the costs of the permits to keep it

[westy]

i had something like that happen to me last month ithad the yb ready to eat it i chased the hawk off and the pigeon was fine. sorry to here about this those hawks are bastar*s

[Guest shadow]

The situation will only get worse as more and more raptors are looking for nesting site they will sread across the country. Two years ago we in lincolnshire had no problems but now perigrines buzzards sparrowhawks are all over the area. I have lost 7 this year to hawk attacks and I live in a built up area surrounded by houses This with the fact of moving house and failing health has made my mind up to pack in at the end of the season. So will be having a sale at working man's prices in september so watch the website.

john

[deanbruton]

had orrendous problems last week with female sparrowhawk, taking ybs only feet away from where we were standing it killed one, injured two. Luckly the problem has now been sorted and the sparrowhawk was run over by a car.

[westy]

i was told this is a bad season for attacks due to them having youngens in the nest.

[Guest ben]

Doesn`t work that way westy,when Sparrowhawk got youngsters,the male brings food for the hen on the nest,so only takes very small prey it can carry.

    Shadow,buzzards will cause you no problems,and if you do your homework,neither will the Sparrowhawk,perigines a different problem,the birds got to wise up,no other way.

  

[swilcox]

Ben is spot on with both posts!!

[frank-123]

sorry to hear of your attack pigeonchested

if anyone gets a bird killed by a sparrowhawk try and recover the carcass before the hawk has ate your bird wrap it in a fine hession cloth as sparrowhawk has barbs  on its tallons the cloth wraps around its tallons

 

it wont catch anything again