Hawks

[imnukensc]

Cooper's Hawks, especially juvenile Cooper's Hawks, will certainly kill large fowl breeds. I've had them kill a few of my full grown Barred Rocks.

 

[Qwerty3159]

You're probably hearing a red shouldered hawk which is in my opinion by far the noisiest bird of prey in the United states. They're also the one that blue jay's tend to mimic. The red shouldereds only come this far north in the summer where I'm from, but I wouldn't doubt that they're calling to establish territories after migration like others have said. That being said I had a resident pair here this summer that had a nest nearby and they would circle above the yard for hours each morning calling. They're pretty small and weak for a Buteo hawk and if I remember correctly they eat lots of small things like frogs and bugs and while I'd estimate that it's only a rare occurrence they could be capable of killing small chickens, but not like a Coopers or Red tailed.

The Cooper's hawk is a real PITA because although it is small it is a bird killing specialist and usually kills by puncturing the chest cavity which allows them to take on and quickly kill prey larger than themselves

 

[BigBlueHen53]

And vice versa, I have heard hawks making blue jay calls, for whatever reason.

Interesting. "Come to dinner, little blue jay?"