Neighbor busted for hawk death

[ranchhand]

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That would have been an amazing sight to see! All the egrets flying up in unison and them BOOM, eagle grabs one. I've never seen a bald eagle make a kill, but I have seen the smaller hawks catching birds. One day I heard something smack against my window, look outside and a Cooper's hawk had a cardinal pinned on the ground for a few seconds, then took off with it. Sad to see, but that's nature.

Flying up in unison? Read my sig line.

 

[zoo2u]

As a wildlife educator, i can say it is not only illegal to kill hawks or any bird of prey but very wrong. you have to do your best to protect your chickens- hawks are just doing what is natural. i love my chickens too and have lost several to hawks, fox and one raccoon in the past. That's nature. We do education programs with non releasable hawk and an owl. If you love birds, love all birds.

 

[amartinlb]

That's why we always need extra chickens - in case something gets one ! I have a few more than I should. In two weeks a hawk got a young 4 month old palm turkey, a female muscovy and my only salmon favorelle. I put up netting -quite a project. I already had a turkey escape but hopefully will prevent hawk from buffet.

 

[dirtsaver]

Quote:
Feathered Tempest I respect your opinion but I will disagree with your comment on the decline of small game. I've studied wildlife for over 50 years between growing up on a farm,working for a nature preserve and spending countless hours in the outdoors in general. I understand population cycles,the predator/prey relationship,the effect of Fescue grasses on reproduction and survivalibility of several varieties of wildlife as well as horses and cattle.

With that background, I have no doubt in my mind that the increase in raptor numbers has severely affected the number of small game animals in Kentucky.

And by the way...I am an active environmentalist...not an environmental activist! I stand by my beliefs but respect the opinions of you other great folks.

Larry

 

[enola]

To the board member that captured the hawk and examined it with her youngster...... It is illegal to capture raptures, also. Even for release "after a while"

 

[cowdogcadillac]

I'm training my flock of chickens to prey upon Hawks. I know it sounds impossible, but if they can work out enough and build up their little chicken wings and legs they could surprise dive-bomb a hawk or two. I know the hawks would never expect it because they have the whole tough guy hawk reputation, but believe me,they will be looking over their shoulders every time they are flying around or even perching on a branch. I'm going to start with smaller targets first for the chickens to practice on,,,maybe a jackalope or two.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
that would be like watching the catbirds chase the crows out of the yard LOL

 

[TheFeatheredTempest]

I know they have guardian dogs for sheep and I've heard about guardian birds for chickens but can't recall the details. It seems to me that they were talking about keeping a couple turkeys in with your flock and they help keep the raptors away or warn against them. Anyone else heard of this? Was it turkeys? Or geese?

 

[TheFeatheredTempest]

Dirtsaver

Feathered Tempest I respect your opinion but I will disagree with your comment on the decline of small game. I've studied wildlife for over 50 years between growing up on a farm,working for a nature preserve and spending countless hours in the outdoors in general. I understand population cycles,the predator/prey relationship,the effect of Fescue grasses on reproduction and survivalibility of several varieties of wildlife as well as horses and cattle.

With that background, I have no doubt in my mind that the increase in raptor numbers has severely affected the number of small game animals in Kentucky.

Long term observations like that are incredibly valuable and increasingly rare. Without those sorts of observations scientists would not know where to begin and which hypotheses to explore. However, correlation alone does not indicate cause and that is why one has to actually design a study to test ones hypothesis and do the fieldwork, gather data, and statistically analyze it. That there is a decline in small game I have no doubt! But current research indicates that mesopredator release is the culprit. This is referring to the dramatic increase in mid-size predators such as foxes and raccoons that are symptomatic in turn of other issues in the ecosystem. The decline in small game that you mention is not a local phenomena but a problem throughout the eastern U.S. covering a vast range and many species. In some parts of that range the number of raptors has not increased or indeed raptors may be quite scarce and yet the small game has declined. There are species of small mammals that have declined dramatically, such as the eastern spotted skunk, that are not taken by raptors (exceptsometimes great horned owls). And although many raptor populations in the western states have also recovered and increased one does not see a correlated decline in small game. Nor does one see the increase in mid-range predators. There are other factors at play here and raptors aren't it.​

 

[halo]

100% correct. The coyotes are doing far far FAR more damage to the small game population than raptors could ever do.

The farmer behind me runs about 500 free range hens, and even with that amount, they were losing a significant amount weekly. We have a lot of hawks and bald eagles here, but we just didnt believe that could be the problem. He put out trap snares, and in the course of a week trapped and killed over 2 dozen coyotes. We still have the huge raptor population, but he hasnt lost chickens anymore.