Currently, I have 2 peafowl and 6 doves. A few months ago a cooper's hawk decided to pay an interesting visit to my yard in the late afternoon. He sat atop of an aviary I made(at that time holding my 2 peafowl), and would not leave until I chased it away. A second, third, and fourth time would be at the morning, when I kept my doves in the aviary; he circled around the aviary, and left after failing to get inside.
It's today that's the problem. He actually managed to get one of my doves. I usually let my doves out to fly as they please during the day, and today, since it was raining, I reasoned there would be even less of a threat, as birds wouldn't voluntarily fly a lot in the rain. However, I look outside and there was a hawk on the ground, eyeing my peafowl, and then after a few seconds it flew away. I didn't think much about it, since I reasoned my peafowl could fend for themselves, but then after another few minutes, I saw the hawk swooping down and catching one of my doves mid-flight as it tried to flee. There's a pile of feathers on the ground
after I rushed out. Well, now I'm missing a dove, and put all my birds in secure cages(took an hour for all the doves to come back
).
Since this hawk comes at irregular intervals at irregular times, but will continuously come here(5 times now within a month :/), there's no way I can avoid it really. And I can't kill, harm, or catch it because it's illegal here in Arizona. I'm at a loss of what to do. I can't keep my birds in a wire cage every day. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
It's today that's the problem. He actually managed to get one of my doves. I usually let my doves out to fly as they please during the day, and today, since it was raining, I reasoned there would be even less of a threat, as birds wouldn't voluntarily fly a lot in the rain. However, I look outside and there was a hawk on the ground, eyeing my peafowl, and then after a few seconds it flew away. I didn't think much about it, since I reasoned my peafowl could fend for themselves, but then after another few minutes, I saw the hawk swooping down and catching one of my doves mid-flight as it tried to flee. There's a pile of feathers on the ground


Since this hawk comes at irregular intervals at irregular times, but will continuously come here(5 times now within a month :/), there's no way I can avoid it really. And I can't kill, harm, or catch it because it's illegal here in Arizona. I'm at a loss of what to do. I can't keep my birds in a wire cage every day. Any suggestions would be appreciated!