Pigeon Talk

[rolohman]

I tried hard to make sure my pigeons had a nice, separate coop area where they were safe from the chickens. Here’s what I caught on the chicken coop cam this afternoon.



Best laid plans…

 

[sourland]

Well, that was fast! I went out to serve breakfast and Binnie was on the perch outside Maraboo’s nest box. Seems like she doesn’t intend to remain single for any time at all. After flying down for food she returned to her own nest box, but an hour later I found her with Miraboo inside his again.

Pigeon mantra : "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with."

 

[avjudge]

the Cooper’s hawk in particular (which is probably what’s taking your birds) is a seemingly reckless creature.

I just had a talk with some neighbors, and followed that up with some Googling, and my suspicion is that it was a red-tailed hawk. I saw one this summer about a mile east as I was riding my horse, and the neighbor about a half mile west was telling me just now that she frequently sees them above her field. A little googling puts them as one of the leading predators of pigeons. And while we are officially only in their “breeding range,” their winter range begins not too far south from here so no reason for them to hurry away.

I have never seen a Cooper’s hawk around here though that does not mean they could not be here; similar to red-tailed, we are in their breeding range. I just think that the known predator/known resident is the more likely culprit. And bright white, slower-flying Milou was a tempting target.

I knew that our resident broad wings migrate south but only a few days ago confirmed that that was generally in September, so they are gone. They haven’t worried me that much because of their small size but are so ubiquitous near our house that at some point in nearly any summer day the Merlin app will ID their song, even if I don’t see them that day. And this isn‘t new; my family has lived in this house over 60 years, and I remember first IDing them with the help of my mom’s Peterson’s guide probably when I was in high school, which would be late ‘70s.

Oh, and I found another pile of feathers about 60-70 feet away from the first two, and this one had a backbone and feet along with feathers. This was in shallow grassy water (a vernal pool) scattered around a hummock or half sunken log (hard to tell with the grass draped over it).

 

[Qwerty3159]

Could’ve been a red tailed hawk for sure. They certainly eat pigeons in cities and stuff for example.

I mostly suggested Cooper’s Hawk because they are a bird-eating specialist (they take a lot of starlings and mourning doves which are just a size below a pigeon) vs. the red tailed which has more of a generalist diet including rodents, snakes, etc.
But I think it’s safe to say most predators, including hawks, are opportunists that won’t pass up what they deem an easy meal.

 

[Mr Oviraptor]

I just had a talk with some neighbors, and followed that up with some Googling, and my suspicion is that it was a red-tailed hawk. I saw one this summer about a mile east as I was riding my horse, and the neighbor about a half mile west was telling me just now that she frequently sees them above her field. A little googling puts them as one of the leading predators of pigeons. And while we are officially only in their “breeding range,” their winter range begins not too far south from here so no reason for them to hurry away.

I have never seen a Cooper’s hawk around here though that does not mean they could not be here; similar to red-tailed, we are in their breeding range. I just think that the known predator/known resident is the more likely culprit. And bright white, slower-flying Milou was a tempting target.

I knew that our resident broad wings migrate south but only a few days ago confirmed that that was generally in September, so they are gone. They haven’t worried me that much because of their small size but are so ubiquitous near our house that at some point in nearly any summer day the Merlin app will ID their song, even if I don’t see them that day. And this isn‘t new; my family has lived in this house over 60 years, and I remember first IDing them with the help of my mom’s Peterson’s guide probably when I was in high school, which would be late ‘70s.

Oh, and I found another pile of feathers about 60-70 feet away from the first two, and this one had a backbone and feet along with feathers. This was in shallow grassy water (a vernal pool) scattered around a hummock or half sunken log (hard to tell with the grass draped over it).

Sharp-Shinned Hawks are also Bird hunters, They look kind of like a Coopers, I wanna doubt it was a Red-Tail since they are more after Mice and stuff, Coopers and Sharp-Shinned Hawks are more bird specialist, So are Kestrels!

 

[Qwerty3159]

I actually had a male kestrel grab one of my pigeons last year. It was a HUGE load for such a little bird to try to carry and he ended up letting go of my pigeon really quick. The pigeon had a few small scratches but no punctures.

I have sharp-shinned’s here that fly right past the pigeons to attack songbirds at the feeder. They’re a great example of evolution where they are essentially the same animal as the Cooper’s hawk in appearance and behavior, with the exception that the Sharp-shinned hunts birds up to the size of a blue jay, while the Cooper’s tends to take birds bigger or as big as a blue jay. Sharp-shin on the left, Cooper’s on the right.

I also have red shouldered hawks that breed in the swamp behind my house. This one sits on the flag pole in the yard all the time, it has outright ignored the pigeons in the several years it’s been hunting in my yard.

Occasionally I get other falcons besides kestrels (Merlins and peregrines) come through and they can be quite deadly. I posted about a failed falcon hunt a few pages back, I think. Luckily my birds are getting quite falcon-savvy and I seldom see them, typically once or twice a year at most

 

[Qwerty3159]

Speak of the devil, I had a Cooper’s hawk come by right after posting that. Being an ambush predator, he had a seriously hard time getting anywhere near them in the open sky and quickly gave up.

 

[Amer]

Speak of the devil, I had a Cooper’s hawk come by right after posting that. Being an ambush predator, he had a seriously hard time getting anywhere near them in the open sky and quickly gave up.

Wow! Well, good for them and awesome photo!

 

[sourland]

I mostly suggested Cooper’s Hawk because they are a bird-eating specialist (they take a lot of starlings and mourning doves which are just a size below a pigeon) vs. the red tailed

Cooper's hawks put me out of business. I lost a few to red tailed hawks - generally young birds that were 'tree sitting'. I did lose a few to peregrine falcons during the fall migration.

Has anyone noticed 'hawking' behavior in their flocks? My Birmingham rollers - especially young birds would engage in this. A bird would separate from and rise above the kit, fold its wings and dive at the flock like a hawk. Kit would scatter and then regroup higher in the air. I always figured it was training/practice for a hawk attack? Any ideas on this?

 

[Qwerty3159]

Has anyone noticed 'hawking' behavior in their flocks?

I’ve seen reference to it in an old roller book I got at a thrift store. I’m not sure if the behavior is specific to rollers or not.

I’ve seen my homers do something similar where one bird starts a tuck and barrel roll and sometimes others will follow, even the entire group at times. Sometimes they’ll pass over the yard and a few pigeons will do an extremely deep dive, going down lower than the roof of the house and then shooting back up over the trees. I think they are doing it for genuine fun, or just for practice like you said.