Hawks Hunting as a Group

[Dracarys]

Today while cleaning the waterers, I wondered why my girls ran to their hiding spots all of a sudden. I looked up and saw six birds soaring high in a circle over the open pasture. At first I thought they were buzzards because they tend to stay in groups, but a couple of them came low enough for me to see their overall coloring and sure enough, they were hawks.

I watched them for a while to see if they were going to have a territorial fight or something. Then came two more, and they joined the circling pack. None of them were chasing others or a hint of fighting with each other. They just circled the same area together. I tried to take a picture of them, but my old camera phone had trouble focusing on the sky, and then they flew away. I have to wonder if my camera phone spooked them somehow.

I've read that Harris Hawks will hunt in packs of parents and children (about five), but eight? Also, the coloring was nothing like the pictures of Harris Hawks. These were a tan brown with no obvious red.

Do any of you know what kind of hawks these are? I've never seen or heard of this behavior, and I'm not sure how to protect against it.

 

[NHMountainMan]

Were they buzzard sized? Without a picture my guess is that they were in migration south and saw what might have been an easy meal. Glad your chicks were able to hide. Do you have a safe covered run your can keep them in for a few days? If they're migrating they'll be gone in a week or so. There are a few northern hawks that will over-winter in the south east rather than central America. The Audubon website had lots of info and pics.
Good luck

 

[Qwerty3159]

This time of year hawks migrate across the country and sometimes congregate in extremely massive groups. Ballpark guess is broad winged hawk because they're seen in numbers most often but based on that description it could be virtually any species.

I suspect you were seeing a number of hawks passing through the area at once. They do hunt when they're migrating but they don't specifically hunt in a group like the Harris's hawk- it's usually every bird for itself.
Depending on where you live you might be in what's called a flyway. See if there's any hotspots near you.

https://www.hmana.org/new-to-hawkwatching/
http://hawkcount.org/sitesel.php

 

[Dracarys]

Thank you both for your replies! This makes me feel so much better. I thought I was in for it this winter. Still might have the occasional attack attempt, but at least I don't have to worry about defending against a coordinated effort.

@NHMountainMan, we're just starting to integrate our pullets (and 1 cockerel) with our older girls in the free range yard. The young ones learned a hard lesson by losing one of their own a few weeks ago in an attack. Since then, they keep one eye to the sky and we've added several shelters for them to run to.

@Qwerty3159, after searching for a picture of the broad-winged hawk, I think you're right. I'm glad I have this info now. I've seen hawks fight each other for territory, so it seemed so odd for a group to fly together. if I'd seen so many fly above me like in the pic you uploaded rather than just 8 hawks, I think I would have panicked and called animal control after hiding chickens and humans in the house!

 

[animals1981]

Birds of prey do hate each other so a falcon will often try to kill a hawk and vice versa and owls will eat all of them lol