About a half hour after the last post, I looked out the back window and saw a large wing rise and fall on the other side of my smaller coop (you can see straight through the wire). It wasn't normal behavior and I soon realized a hawk had a chicken down. I ran out, calling to Diane. As soon as I was in the back yard, the hawk rose and settled in a tree just over the ditch on the edge of the yard.
To my surprise, this hawk had attacked a white Delaware rooster. The bird is fine, but his head is bloodied. The rest of the chickens were huddled in the corner of a stall, inside the stable. The hawk went farther away and perched in a tree, another hawk showed up minutes later and perched in another nearby tree. I fetched my telescope from the attic and managed to get a look at the bird, but its back was to me and I couldn't identify the species. I hadn't seen any predatory birds for several days and figured the chickens would be okay since I'm spending the day at home, but if I hadn't looked out by chance, that rooster would be a goner. So the book is wrong, hawks will attack full-grown chickens. Again, I'm unsure if the first attacker was hawk or eagle, but now I'm back to guessing hawk.
I'm off for the holidays, so I'm leaving the telescope focused on the "sentinel tree," the preferred vantage point of the hawks, since there's a clear view of the coop.
Reminds me of the old Foghorn Leghorn cartoons where Foghorn would always get the the little chicken hawk to attack the barnyard dawg instead of him. Anybody remember that little hawk's name?
Showing posts with label hawks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hawks. Show all posts
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Eagles and possums and hawks, oh my!
I'm going to be blogging about my usually adventuresome life. Just watch, probably nothing of note will ever happen again. So what? I'm a writer, I'll bring in some past experiences.
Unfortunately, I tend to do things without thinking and get too involved in life. I think it all started in Catholic grade school when I got thrown out for refusing to pray. But that's a story for another time.
The recent frigid weather has got the animals on the move. Last week, I was out at dusk filling the horse trough when a commotion broke out behind me. I turned and, at first, thought a rooster was after one of the hens, just around the corner. But the rest of the chickens were squawking like crazy and feathers started flying. A hawk! I ran the 20 feet to the coop, planning to shove the hawk into the coop and slam the door. (Like I said, I do things without thinking. I have no idea what I expected to do with a live bird of prey.) Just as I got there, the bird flew up in a flurry of wings and was winging away without me getting a good look at it. But it had a white tail and a very large wingspan. I told the guys at work I had seen a very large hawk.
Saturday morning, when I went out to feed the horses and let the chickens out, I looked up to a dead tree just behind the pasture, where hawks often keep vigil. To my surprise, an enormous bald eagle was perched. I didn't let the chickens out, but went back for binoculars, just to be sure. No doubt about it. When I checked the camera, the batteries were dead. I decided not to try using the cell phone camera since it's new and I'm not used to it.
Staying beneath the trees along the ditch line, I walked to within 20 yards of the eagle, which was about 30 feet up. When I stepped out in the open, he (she?) spread his enormous wings as though to frighten me off. For about 5 seconds, we regarded each other, then he flew off. It was the same bird (I think) that tried to take the chicken earlier.
An hour later a large hawk (red-shouldered or red-tailed, I couldn't tell.) perched for a while and another hawk took up residence later on. I guess all the birds of prey are unusually hungry.
Two nights ago, I worked a bit of overtime and Diane fed the animals. She informed me that the chickens had taken in a boarder. Inside one of the nesting boxes was a small possum, huddled against the cold. Since possums eat eggs (I know from experience), I took a pitch fork and gently lifted it out. It waddled away into the ditch, about 10 feet away. The first time we had a possum visitor in the coop, back when the kids were fairly young, I put a stick beneath it and it grabbed on. For several minutes we had fun walking around with "possum-on-a-stick."
Last night, a hawk was there at dusk. I let the chickens out anyway, since I'd checked my bird-watching book and it says hawks can't take full-grown chickens. I saw it from the tack room window and then when I went back outside, it was gone. Not trusting it, I kept an eye out. 30 seconds later, it soared directly overhead (not sure of the species) then flew off into a nearby field, landing on the ground. I stayed out until the chickens had gone to roost, then locked them in. The way I figure it, a HUNGRY hawk might not be able to carry a chicken away, but could kill and eat it on the spot.
So that's my first blog. If nothing exciting happens tonight (and I'm not talking about indoors), I'll tell you about the bear in the front yard a few years back or maybe talk about my latest novel or maybe I'll just brag on how good-looking I am. I'm not used to blogging, so bear with me.
Unfortunately, I tend to do things without thinking and get too involved in life. I think it all started in Catholic grade school when I got thrown out for refusing to pray. But that's a story for another time.
The recent frigid weather has got the animals on the move. Last week, I was out at dusk filling the horse trough when a commotion broke out behind me. I turned and, at first, thought a rooster was after one of the hens, just around the corner. But the rest of the chickens were squawking like crazy and feathers started flying. A hawk! I ran the 20 feet to the coop, planning to shove the hawk into the coop and slam the door. (Like I said, I do things without thinking. I have no idea what I expected to do with a live bird of prey.) Just as I got there, the bird flew up in a flurry of wings and was winging away without me getting a good look at it. But it had a white tail and a very large wingspan. I told the guys at work I had seen a very large hawk.
Saturday morning, when I went out to feed the horses and let the chickens out, I looked up to a dead tree just behind the pasture, where hawks often keep vigil. To my surprise, an enormous bald eagle was perched. I didn't let the chickens out, but went back for binoculars, just to be sure. No doubt about it. When I checked the camera, the batteries were dead. I decided not to try using the cell phone camera since it's new and I'm not used to it.
Staying beneath the trees along the ditch line, I walked to within 20 yards of the eagle, which was about 30 feet up. When I stepped out in the open, he (she?) spread his enormous wings as though to frighten me off. For about 5 seconds, we regarded each other, then he flew off. It was the same bird (I think) that tried to take the chicken earlier.
An hour later a large hawk (red-shouldered or red-tailed, I couldn't tell.) perched for a while and another hawk took up residence later on. I guess all the birds of prey are unusually hungry.
Two nights ago, I worked a bit of overtime and Diane fed the animals. She informed me that the chickens had taken in a boarder. Inside one of the nesting boxes was a small possum, huddled against the cold. Since possums eat eggs (I know from experience), I took a pitch fork and gently lifted it out. It waddled away into the ditch, about 10 feet away. The first time we had a possum visitor in the coop, back when the kids were fairly young, I put a stick beneath it and it grabbed on. For several minutes we had fun walking around with "possum-on-a-stick."
Last night, a hawk was there at dusk. I let the chickens out anyway, since I'd checked my bird-watching book and it says hawks can't take full-grown chickens. I saw it from the tack room window and then when I went back outside, it was gone. Not trusting it, I kept an eye out. 30 seconds later, it soared directly overhead (not sure of the species) then flew off into a nearby field, landing on the ground. I stayed out until the chickens had gone to roost, then locked them in. The way I figure it, a HUNGRY hawk might not be able to carry a chicken away, but could kill and eat it on the spot.
So that's my first blog. If nothing exciting happens tonight (and I'm not talking about indoors), I'll tell you about the bear in the front yard a few years back or maybe talk about my latest novel or maybe I'll just brag on how good-looking I am. I'm not used to blogging, so bear with me.
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