A small hawk or falcon looking for lunch

[bhawk-23]

I hope you are correct that they are just crows. Ravens have arrow shaped tail feathers where as the crows are the size of a pigeon.The Raven has a 4 ft wing span and hunts in pairs (One distracts the prey animals while the other one makes the kill)Crows typically hang out in groups(called a murder of crows) whereas Ravens are called a Conspiracy.
I would be very careful letting my smaller birds out with Hawks and Crows(or Ravens) hanging around. My advise is put their birds up for a while.Young Ravens look like crows.

Thank you! Something felt really off about this pair with their location, the way they perched and looked huge compared to the local crows. I'll research the ravens in my area. The girls have been in their fenced area with only a supervised evening out since the attack last Friday. We added hawk netting over the gap and the only other open-ish areas have fishing line or rebar wiring with a grape vine covering it. Both have worked great for a year now but once we can get a good look at the gaps we will cover them all. I'm super upset about not closing that gap. I knew it was there but from what I understood a hawk has to be pretty desperate to land in a small space without an easy retreat. Lesson learned

We do let them free range but I am usually in and out every 30 minutes with the dogs while also watching and listening when inside. Any attacks we've had are when the pups have not been out in a few hours. They seem to have picked up on this. I need to really get going on some boredom busters because they all stare through the fence longing to be let out and it just breaks my heart I'm just happy hubs went to check on the commotion, he never did until I made a HUGE fuss about it the last time. I'm guessing he decided it was easier to get up and check than to tell me I lost a chicken on his watch

Thanks so much for this new info!

 

[Granny23]

Crows are often bothersome to hawks, how long have the crows been there?



What color, size?

Red-tails are crow-sized and very capable of taking down chickens.

The red tails we have here are waaay larger than crows!!

 

[Granny23]

Hello @Granny23, I understand your issue and I’ve come to help.
(I’m very skilled at bird of prey identification and I’ve been studying for several years.)

What did the hawk/falcon look like, how big was it roughly?
A rough description on what it looked like would help, California is home to lots of different hawks species, and some Falcons.

Thank you for your response. It was a Coopers hawk from what we can gather. Not very big really...mad at being stuck in the netting. It has never been back like this but possibly in fly overs. We have crows, pigeons, an occasional seagull , red tails and smaller falcons and sparrows and since our rooster Pepper is gone to the sanctuary our 2 oldest hens Cookie and Twinkie have taken over his duty of warnings.

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

The red tails we have here are waaay larger than crows!!

Interesting.... Maybe they feed on a lot of chickens then, that's why their called chicken hawks!
We had two ravens right behind the chicken run, I often communicate with them. I don't worry about them bothering the chickens. I also have a bothersome heron living nearby.

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

Thank you for your response. It was a Coopers hawk from what we can gather. Not very big really...mad at being stuck in the netting. It has never been back like this but possibly in fly overs. We have crows, pigeons, an occasional seagull , red tails and smaller falcons and sparrows and since our rooster Pepper is gone to the sanctuary our 2 oldest hens Cookie and Twinkie have taken over his duty of warnings.View attachment 2903952

Your welcome!
Your right, but It is most likely a juvenile cooper's hawk, a young one. It has the proper cooper's plumage and the wing barring.
But the face looks almost too similar to a red-tailed.

The picture confuses me. I say either red tailed or coopers. Size is right for both.
(Your lucky to have gotten so close, if I were that close...well, lets just say i'd have a new pet!)

 

[Tired old Rooster]

Maybe some upward facing mirrors to annoy the hawk with reflection?

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

Very good idea!

Maybe some upward facing mirrors to annoy the hawk with reflection?

 

[bhawk-23]

Thank you for your response. It was a Coopers hawk from what we can gather. Not very big really...mad at being stuck in the netting. It has never been back like this but possibly in fly overs. We have crows, pigeons, an occasional seagull , red tails and smaller falcons and sparrows and since our rooster Pepper is gone to the sanctuary our 2 oldest hens Cookie and Twinkie have taken over his duty of warnings.View attachment 2903952

That is a great picture! Scary for you and your girls, but still super cool. Is that a netting? What kind? Would you happen to have a link?

 

[Tired old Rooster]

Very good idea!

It worked great against Stuka pilots for a whole day and hawks and stuff don't own gas welding goggles.

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

It worked great against Stuka pilots for a whole day and hawks and stuff don't own gas welding goggles.

That's good to know! What are stuka pilots?