help! sparrow hawk.....

[captainbovine]

that pesky sparrow hawk has been at it again...he ate a chaffinch the other day and yesterday he had a siskin:_| he's scoffing one or more a day!!!!

any ideas how to deter him from this, I know he has his own chicks to feed but I'd rather he didn't catch the ones who think our garden is a safe haven....

I fankyou x

[bitsnknots]

I don't know what to suggest CB.  We have had a sparrow hawk a couple of times since we have lived here.  I forget what it caught the first time but the second time, it caught a collared dove which it took quite a lot of the feathers off.  Part of our back garden looked like there had been a fight in a pillow factory!!

[captainbovine]

:^O I came home one evening in the last house we lived in and a goshawk or something massive was in the garden chomping on a collared dove...there were feathers all over the place!! I took a picture of it as no one would have believed me otherwise!!

[twishy123]

Can you vary the time and areas where you feed your little birds Capt?

We had one the used to line up his prey from the garage roof....X-(

as soon as we changed the times and moved the feeders around every couple of days he got sick of second guessing where his dinner was going to appear and moved to next doors restaurant :^O

[wizilizi]

Lordy, I think WE have enough trouble with woodpigeons 😮

At least they only wolf down the little birds food & not the little birds

I'm new to this bird feeding game.  I wondered where all the birds had gone, once we had deterred townpigeons from going on our roof, so decided to put out some sunflower seeds in a feeder.  We only had the odd blackbird & a very friendly robin on/in the birdbath

For a while, no new birds, but now I have greenfinches & blue-tits, & chaffinches, & probably others but .. .. they get 'bombed' by the woodpigeons 😞

Can I deter those great fat zeppelin birds who terrorize the bird feeder birds, empty the feeder in one gulp, carp all over, knock the feeder to the ground trying to get more out of it, & then slump onto my pots to dig those ????

[captainbovine]

weellll...no...:^O

but you can make things difficult for them....I bought one of those feeders you stick on the window so you can see the birds close up. Fill that with your sunflower hearts and all the birds including the robin will work it out quickly, the woodpigeons can't get on that.

keep most feeders for your little birds on a stand then they big boogers can't get on them.

Don't put seed on the ground and don't  buy the cheap stuff with wheat in, it's the worse thing you can do as you'll never be rid of them or ferral pigeons either.

twishy...thanks for that, I did move the feeders last night to the other end of the garden and inbetween two trees. It means we can't see the birdies as well as we did have the feeding station right by the patio doors, but as long as they are safe that's all that matters.

Lets' hope we had a really thick sparrow hawk who can't work out where we've put the food!!!

[merc1_clocks]

CB...getting the owl made all the differene for me :-x

[barefoot.biker]

The hawk that has been picking off my birdies seems to have gone elsewhere for his meals

I had one of the multi hook style feeders and the hawk swooped down and helped itself to a lovely little blue tit. I was horrified and asked friends what to do.

After a couple more lost birds My builder said he had built a cage from large holed wire fencing and hes not had a problem. I did the same  I pretty much made a cage round the tall feeder with  wire and hung it out the tree instead of it being out in the open.

The small birds can get through the holes and the blackbirds and thrush sized birds go in underneath or in from the top as it is wide enough. Now the hawk can`t swoop down and catch them unaware and they have a fighting chance. Since I have my wire cage round the feeder Ive seen nothing of the sparrow hawk.

Fingers crossed it stays away.

One of the old ladies I visit was sat on her patio with a book and a cuppa when a little bird came in for a bit of cake she had dropped earlier and a hawk just took the bird from no more than 4 feet away from her:_| she was horrified 😞

I am about to build a wigwam style feeder out of canes .................when I find the time;\

Ahhhhhh time. I need more time.

[stampingpat]

You could put your feeder next to a really dense shurb. We have ours next to a cotoneaster and my sparrows dive into it the first sign of trouble. Also I have a big rose bush in the front garden and they will go into that too. But I did notice one day the sparrow hawk tried to go into it after them. But in the end he/she gave up. It must have been really hungry. We also have some thick conifer hedges that the birds can dive into too. I agree it isn't nice that they take our little friends. 😞 But as was said they too have to feed their young and eat too.

[cookiecookuk]

can you buy a kite thing on a long stick that looks like a hawk hovering ready to swoop that would make him think he was on someones else terrotory they use them round here on car sales places to stop birds doing things on there cars.but i do not know where to buy or what its called.

maybe somebody can help:-)

[captainbovine]

do you know biker, OH said the other day it was a shame that you couldn't buy a cage to put over the feeder! what a brill idea, I'll tell him.

Merc, did you get a big owl? we have that owl on the shed but it's made no difference, but then it is navy blue, but my next door neighbour thought it was real!!!:^O

[wizilizi]

Thanks for your tips CB, very helpful

I am imagining the birds we're trying to exclude sitting in a huddle muttering & cursing - or maybe on their chatboard working out ways to get around our barriers 😄

[merc1_clocks]

I have got a big owl CB, & it's painted kinda owly colours, but it also has eyes that shine in the dark.....................mine is a posh owl :^O

[captainbovine]

oooo get you Merc:^O I bet it scares the cats away too.

I've never seen so many birds on that feeder since we moved it, they must feel so safe, there are chaffinches, gold finches, green finches, robins, a blackbird and we've even seen a red poll:O

blimey!!! it's .com for birds:^O

[merc1_clocks]

But have you got a family of woodpeckers eh? eh?

[duck_a_lorange]

But have you got a family of woodpeckers eh? eh?

I had three families of birdies last year - don't know what they were but there were three nests in overgrown bushes at the back, only visible once the leaves dropped.

This year - I'm looking out of the kitchen window and the bushes are flapping about like a demented can-can dancer.  Any nests in there now will be flung out. :_|

[dairyview123]

We had trouble too with a sparrow hawk, the big plastic owl made no difference then someone said it had to be another bird of prey...not an owl:_|

Our visitor this week!

now come on...........AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW :^O

[captainbovine]

hactually Merc, we have a family of woodpeckers and on our first day here a kite took one of the parents and left one of them to rear the baby:_|

one comes in the garden most days for the peanuts

he's the greater spotted woodpecker to be precise ... ahem...is posh.....B-)

[merc1_clocks]

Well hactually.........................................

mine is only a LESSER spotted woodpecker 😮  * the moo bested me *

[cookiecookuk]

i am with cb i too have a greater spotted woodpecker visit my garden.:-D