damn hawk

[no fly zone]

this red shouldered hawk decided to sit in one of our trees and just watch the chickens. it came by every day for about a week and a half. did not get any of our girls though.

 

[sourland]

They are persistent. Don't let down your guard.

 

[Losobug]

Nice photo of your damn hawk..lol. I know I hate my red tails that lives in a tree across our field. They are always busy scaring me and my chickens although they have never bothered my girls. We have had 2 different smaller Hawks attack though. One was sitting with my girls and I noticed an extra bird with them..lol.. I think he was in shock from crash landing into my brahmas..big girls..the other time the hawk crashed into my bird netting and got stuck. We untangled it and released the little butthead. Good luck!

 

[centrarchid]

this red shouldered hawk decided to sit in one of our trees and just watch the chickens. it came by every day for about a week and a half. did not get any of our girls though. View attachment 1994699 View attachment 1994701 View attachment 1994703

Not a Red-shouldered Hawk

 

[cmom]

Not a Red-shouldered Hawk

I agree, it's a Red-Tailed hawk.
Here is a Red-Shouldered Hawk.

 

[centrarchid]

Red-shouldered Hawks have yet to cause me trouble. Red-tailed Hawks can be a pain in the booty. Former, like crows can help exclude latter if nesting near by.

 

[cmom]

A Red-Tailed Hawk. The pictures are blurry but are of a Red-Tailed Hawk we also have Red-Shouldered but they have more red/orange on them and the wing pattern is a little different.

Red-Tailed eating a snake on a Bluebird nest box.

 

[no fly zone]

My mistake. Either way, it was not welcome.

 

[birdfreak1831]

In keeping with being weird and refusing revenge, I do not hate anyone, human or animal.
I agree with protecting your charges though, for me and others the chickens who live with us.
Raptors are special to me too but, as other predators, chickens need not be on their menu.
We have five interconnected chicken run parts surrounded by tall, triple fences.
To avert air attacks they are covered with double layered netting, else they are topped with either chicken wire or a thick plastic "netting".
The thinner double layers have lots of little cotton threads tied to them - raptors as well as other birds can see those on the netting and it helps them to avoid it.

My neighbors had a hole in their single layer netting which a Great Horned Owl crashed through!

The buttugly netting has worked for me for several years - raptors, including eagles, circling overhead and coming down close but never attempting to pass through intact netting.
Seems they do not trust it, flimsy as it is.

Is that the operable phrase : "intact netting"?
Maybe if the birds found a hole they would try to get through it?

 

[StinkyAcres]

@no fly zone You are absolutely correct - the hawk you photographed is indeed a Red-shouldered Hawk juvenile. Red-taileds are a bit bulkier and in your area have little to no streaking on the upper breast, denser streaking across the belly, and the young ones have very thin dark tail bands, as shown in the first photo cmom posted. The only similar hawk in the area is the Broad-winged, but they aren't there in the winter and they are more compact and lack the pale barring on the secondaries.