SHELTIE V/S HAWK - Page 2

NickNack · ‎03-10-2010

@Carmie Your niece and her neighbors probably know this, but bird feeders attract hawks. If the neighbors took all their feeders down they might have less hawks. I know it's hard to take them down when you really enjoy watching the birds, but that's how the hawks get their tasty meals. (They may have already done this, but it's just a suggestion.)

The Bluebird Carries The Sky On His Back"
-Henry David Thoreau

share · ‎12-05-2011

Thank you for all of your replies. In the ten years we have lived here this has just started being a problem. I will be watching like a hawk for these raptors, and unfortunately not enjoying my backyard as before.

qvcfan526 · ‎03-16-2010

Enjoy your yard still, if there is a special place in the yard (in a fenced in area) where your dog loves try canopying it. Just put a colorful tarp over the top and Mr Hawk won't be able to attack him..

Kachina624 · ‎03-10-2010

@share wrote:
Thank you for all of your replies. In the ten years we have lived here this has just started being a problem. I will be watching like a hawk for these raptors, and unfortunately not enjoying my backyard as before.

I really don't think you need worry. Your dog is too large for a hawk or even an eagle to carry away. These bird don't just willy-nilly attack dogs or people.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment

conlt · ‎03-16-2010

I live in North Florida and I have 3 Shelties. I have had many over the years and when they are puppies I keep them firmly attached to me on a leash with me standing over them. No doubt the Hawk was thinking about getting your Sheltie but the dog is too heavy for him to pick up. I am sorry this happened. My family owns a pet supply store and we deal in birds and fish. Many people come in and tell stories of losing a bird right off of their shoulder. A hawk came down and swooped the poor little bird away. My brother is a ranger at a Florida state park and he has seen a Hawk swoop down and take a seagull. Not a nice thing to see. Also watch Alligators and snakes. My Shelties go out in my yard alone but they are full grown. I would have freaked out too. My brother had a Hawk smash into one of his house windows trying to get his bird which was inside of the house. What I hate the most is the people who take their bird outside on their shoulder. This is very dangerous for the bird, who is a sitting prey for a Hawk. Also a coworker has lost several birds to a Hawk just by sitting her bird cage outside. Even though I told her about a million times not to do that, the Hawk attacked on the cage and even got into her screened porch. People keep your birds inside. They don't want to be outside and your little dogs tethered on a leash.

Citrine1 · ‎03-09-2010

@conlt, Oh my gosh -- what horror stories!

A couple of years ago, a mourning dove built a nest and had babies in a windowbox that sat outside my living room window. I loved to look out the window and watch their activity. One day a crow swooped down and stole one of the babies. I was so upset; I'd never seen anything like that before. The image stayed with me for weeks. Oh, that poor little bird!

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

We had a pair of red tailed hawks nesting in a tree two houses down from us for a couple of years. The parents would bring full grown muskrats and groundhogs back to the nest. Rabbits and squirrels were more common, but from time to time you'd see them flying in with a bigger animal. I'm not sure what their weight limit is, but it's up there a bit. They're big, strong birds.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

@Citrine1 wrote:
@conlt, Oh my gosh -- what horror stories!

A couple of years ago, a mourning dove built a nest and had babies in a windowbox that sat outside my living room window. I loved to look out the window and watch their activity. One day a crow swooped down and stole one of the babies. I was so upset; I'd never seen anything like that before. The image stayed with me for weeks. Oh, that poor little bird!

Almost the same thing happened in my small back yard, @Citrine1

I had a small tree in which mourning doves used the same nest over and over for years, just adding some refresher twigs and things each year.

One year a small hawk (I believe it was a sharp-shinned hawk) was on the neighbor's roof looking left and right. All of a sudden, he dove like a bullet and grabbed a baby dove. And zoomed right away again. Amazingly fast.

Hawks are powerful and skillful hunters. I admire their skill, but did not like them hurting "my" doves.

The doves never nested there again. They are smart, too.

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.

HappyDaze · ‎06-13-2012

I'm always chasing away the hawks (mainly sharp shinned) from my bird feeder, which isn't easy because sharpies aren't as afraid of humans like other hawks. It always kills me when I see a fluff of feathers under the bird feeder. One plucked a grosbeak off a branch right in front of me. That grosbeak screamed bloody murder as they flew away. Terrible. I cried. The grosbeaks hardly come around anymore since then. I used to have tons of them visiting.I love hawks and understand they need to eat and hunt too but it is my responsibility to protect my birds I am attracting to my feeder.

But worse than the hawks are the terrible weasels. They've attacked and killed two of my (wild) bunnies and the shriek the bunnies make when being attacked by them is something I can never forget. The weasels are ruthless and just terrible. I now have to protect my bunnies from them too.