do birds of prey kill full grown ducks?

[desertdarlene]

Quote:
That's a red-shouldered hawk. They prefer rodents, but I still would be careful. Nice shot by the way! We have one on our street that terrifies all the squirrels.

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

I am so lucky to have a family of crows living in my yard. They chase off ANY daytime air predator that dares hang around. I watched them chase off a GIANT Ferruginous Hawk within two minutes of landing in one my trees. I would say once ot twice a month we get to see them chase off hawks. I

our crows and they are welcome to live here as long as they like!

Now, we do get the occasional owl here at night, but luckily by then the duckers are all in bed safe and sound.

 

[mymacandstormy]

your crows are priceless

but in my area of the USA, the northeast, specifically the nyc area north, crows have been wiped out. formerly we had many many thousands of them in westchester county, in a local woodland alone I saw hundreds. and these were lifesavers for every non killer bird in the country. the crows lost lives by the millions due to west nile disease. we have no more and if some manage to survive in other parts of the country that is good news for birds there.

this killer virus originated in the ny area and though repeatedly denied, a prominent zoo was speculated to have let this devastating disease take hold through flamingoes improperly quaranteed... IF it was this zoo then the results of the massive annihilation of crows has changed survival potential of every bird struggling to survive in the USA. it was always only the crows that through vigilence and warnings saved all our birds from attacks and gave them a chance at survival to reproduce.

 

[frizzleman74]

do crows really deter hawks and owls. I have a whole bunch where i live (ridgefield CT) im hoping they will help with this birds of prey problem

 

[desertdarlene]

Crows (and sometimes grackles) can deter hawks often, but make sure you keep your babies safe from them as they do take chicks/ducklings and eggs. I have found, though, that they're not 100% reliable because some hawks actually kill crows. I've seen Cooper's hawks chase crows often and sometimes red-tails will turn the tables on them and have them for dinner.

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

My crows have never lost a battle with a hawk. Maybe it's their numbers (we have 6-8 living in my trees) or just that they are persistent. I have noticed most of the hawks don't even try to fight, they just move on. I can see how it could be possible for a really determined hawk to win out, but I have never seen it happen.

Crows are notorious for chasing off raptors. We looked into the first time we saw them do it. Apparently it is to both protect themselves and their food sources. As one site said " adult crows often participate in a behavior known as mobbing, in which they drive the threatening bird out by chasing it en masse." So true, as we see groups of 3 to 5 participate in the chase! lol

They have never gone after my birds, and we often see them out in the grass foraging together, the ducks for food, and the crows for nesting material (i.e old duck feathers).

I don't intend to take chances anyway with my very young birds, even though I feel pretty confident they will leave them alone.


mymacandstormy,
That's terrible!! No crows??? That's so amazing considering how many we have here in the mid west!

 

[Sore Thumb Suburbanite]

I've got a yard inbetween crow and mocking bird territory. Any time a crow comes to my yard, the mocking birds defend it, they chase everything as big or bigger than a crow away. I saw a small falcon get attacked by 4 mocking birds and as it was going east, the crows joined in! I was very happy.

My ducks are very good at spotting large birds, and because I have a raised duck coop, they immediately run underneath and have safety. I feel this gives them enough protection from bird predators, they go inside the coop at night and have protection from everything else.

Consider giving your birds a low lying covered area for protection.

 

[Ducklvr]

yeppers, We lost 4 to a owl before we figured out it was an owl not the neighborhood dogs....

The funny thing is that the owl would NOT eat any of the body after tearing it apart...

We now have a large roof, no more ducks have been murdered.

That owl wiped out our females!

 

[desertdarlene]

Look what the crows alerted me to this morning on my street:

Didn't really scare him off, but sure made it known he was around. I couldn't get a good photo because he was too quick.

 

[Yetti]

my friend was telling me today he had a coyote about 20 yards from him while he was getting the mail at his place. he said he and his 10 year old daughter watched it for about 20 seconds before it disappeared into a field. thats is about 20 miles west of me. I hope I don't see any around here while the critters are out in the yard.