Birders
Related: About this forumI'm feeling disturbed. I just had a National Geograpic moment in my back yard.
I glanced out my window and saw, just a few feet away, a hawk, likely a sharp-shinned hawk, sitting on my fire pit. Wow! Cool! I thought, until I realized it had a beautiful redwing blackbird in its grip!
I know its nature. It has to eat.
But these are my redwing blackbirds that I feed everyday.
The poor thing was still alive, and looking around. It really got to me.
elleng
(130,973 posts)Karadeniz
(22,537 posts)MoonchildCA
(1,301 posts)Its always exciting to get a glimpse of a raptor close up. They are fascinating birds.
But really, I do not want to see them do what they gotta do. I dont even like to think about it.
Karadeniz
(22,537 posts)OAITW r.2.0
(24,504 posts)Morning doves love my place. Except when a falcon does a drive by hit. I've seen a a falcon hit a dove in flight and it's was amazing. Falcons gotta eat!
LakeArenal
(28,820 posts)Thanks for feeding the birds. 🦜🦉🦅
MuseRider
(34,111 posts)Not naive but it always hurts to see that. It is hard to escape in real life but it disturbs me so much that I do not watch nature shows any more. I am sorry you had to see that.
magicarpet
(14,155 posts)This muskrat thing ran out in the road in front of me and I braked to let the animal go by.
About four feet in front of me an American Bald Eagle comes out of nowhere swoops in with its butt skidding across the blacktop, grabs the muskrat with its talons, and flys off into the great blue beyond with the animal in tow.
It was like a drive through take out window quick lunch stop,... and the eagle was off to attend to afternoon business to run other errands.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,862 posts)A white cat I'd seen in the yard before came in, approached the wall with the trumpet vines, and nailed a hummingbird. I was quite impressed.
My cat, who came to me from the shelter and who had been a stray, was totally pissed she was not the one who got the hummingbird.
brush
(53,787 posts)all that was left was a few feathers and a piece of gristle.
MoonchildCA
(1,301 posts)Ugh!
dweller
(23,641 posts)looking out the window, and watched a hawk land on a low limb in the near woods
Finished the call and thought this is what I have a vidcam for... so snuck out the front and around and started filming it from around the deck as a blind ... it called out once, was answered and moments later a second hawk flew in,
mounted the first hawk, did the feathery deed, and flew away.... I was wide eyed and jaw slacked at having it on film ...
Nature at her finest
✌🏻
MoonchildCA
(1,301 posts)Then I snuck outside, spooked it, and caught it on video flying up to the telephone wire.
I was hoping it would drop the poor creature when I startled it, but nope.
After I saw all the drops of blood it left behind, it was probably just as well. He wouldnt have survived.
It would not have been as bad if he had not still been alive. I just hope he didnt suffer too long.
markie
(22,756 posts)I love my place, being able to have bees and chickens and a large garden... but I also struggle with foxes, bears, raccoons, ermine (mink) and lots of insects that eat my plants...
I have a love/hate relationship with all of them
Grasswire2
(13,571 posts)Just a-sitting in the lilac bush (where the other birdies gather)
I decided the other day to discourage the hawk by making myself present when I see it.
Can't they eat mice? And not birdies?
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,735 posts)There was a time when birds and rabbits flocked to my house because I kept the feeders full. And then one day, I walked out to fill the feeder and saw a red shoulder hawk above, watching me from a tree.
My brain made the connection and i said under my breath, "I feed them. You eat them."
I don't provide regular feedings any more. Just grow the kind of plants that will attract the good wildlife.
MoonchildCA
(1,301 posts)This one was likely nabbed off the phone lines next door where they often hang out in the afternoon.
Im of the mind that feeding them helps with their overall survival. We have infringed on so much of their natural habitat. I also provide water. We are in a severe drought, our seasonal river below my house is bone dry this year.
Im sure if I had a hawk that regularly hunted at my feeder, I would rethink the situation though.
Baitball Blogger
(46,735 posts)But he comes and goes. Lots of beautiful bird song when he's not around. And deathly silence or warning cries from the squirrels and birds if he is. I think there is a name for it when rabbits, squirrels and birds co-habitate and rely on each other's defense traits to take a moment to relax and forage in the open.
One thing I've noticed is that, as the hawk population increased, they targeted the baby Jays. It's like they hone in on the competition.