Unwelcome visitor!

[m.kitchengirl]

This is not helpful - but my friend is a Falconer & brought me a black duck that he hunted with his falcon last weekend. He gave me the breasts & fed his falcon the rest.
I know, all my BYC duck friends are aghast, but it was yummy.
It was a good sized wild duck, this season being so mild. His Falcon had no troubles, though they only catch 12-14 a year.

 

[destinduck]

Thats cool. I like falconry although I have never done it personally. When you say "black" duck do you mean the color or the species? Im guessing color because black ducks (species) arent common anyway. Probably very rare in your neck of the woods.

 

[larkflying]

What a beautiful picture - I love raptors. I'm resigned to them here - I'd never want to shoot one. We have everything from eagles to small, pigeon sized falcons . . . they are gorgeous and wonderful to watch. Plus, we never have a large mouse/rat problem, and I would far rather have the hawks than mice and rats . . .

I've not lost a bird to them, but I am resigned to the possibility. My ducks always run undercover when they see a raptor (sometimes when they see seagulls, herons, or pigeons, so they need to work on their bird identification

) I always have the coop near trees where the birds can get under cover -- in the spring they are near the apple orchard, and in the winter they are near a big stand of thick evergreens. The coop itself is on wheels and they can get under it as well.

I also think the chickens, ducks and geese watch out for each other. The ducks respond to the roosters alarm call, and so do the geese. In addition the 9 geese in a group seem to intimidate the larger raptors. The geese and ducks will clump (since the ducklings were raised with the geese) when there is a raptor. In the spring, several times a small falcon would chase the chickens through the orchard trees, but with the rooster alarm calling, the geese honking, and the ducks following it to see what it was (they REALLY need to work on the bird identification

) it was too flustered to attack a chicken. That happened two or three times when most of the geese were younger and I'd just put the chickens into the orchard area. Now, I don't know why it stopped. . . maybe it knew it couldn't get them, or was tired of the alarm, or there was just a bigger mouse/rat population then and it had plenty of food.

One thing I would do is start putting birdseed out for wild birds somewhere in your backyard. The wild birds here will mob the raptors spring through fall -- and if you have crows or ravens they do an even better job. They also have inflatable owls, this holographic tape thing, and the netting would work too.

If it comes back a lot, and you keep getting pictures, you can try local pest control agencies. My husband worked at a seafood plant, and they would come and trap/deal with the seagulls to keep the population down - but individual people weren't allowed to shoot the gulls. I also read in the newspaper that the large international airport would contact a local falconer to come and get hawks that they trapped near their runway -- they were a danger to the planes, so they relocated them to a more rural to keep them out of the way. So they do relocate them sometimes, but possibly only when it is large corporate or city issues.

Good luck and thanks for sharing the pictures!

 

[larkflying]

And, I wish I knew someone that did falconry -- I'd love to learn that . . .

 

[Rooster2410]

Kari: I think it is a redtail based on it looks like a pic of one lol, but also I am in Washington State and I dont think we have the Red Shouldered hawk here, but the redtail is VERY common.

Falconers are allowed, and very very encouraged to catch a wild hawk rather than buy one. In fact in most states a an Apprentice is not allowed to buy one, only catch one or have one given to them, BUT most sponsors only want them to catch one because you MUST learn to train. So, in theory you can call a falconer if perhaps they have a permit to catch another bird, then they can
catch it and release it.

You sound like you have a Wildlife Rehabilitation license. I am working on studying mine right now. Gotta get a sponsor for that too. Was the test difficult?

 

[Rooster2410]

Oh, speaking of the fake owl thing, that gives me a better idea...

I think putting out fake Crows might be even better, since crows are little @#*$& to hawks. Pluss, fake crows are likely to bring in real crows (which I wouldnt mind as long as they leave my duckies alone, which they should, right?).

 

[kari_dawn]

In my state, there is no test required for a rehab license, but you are strongly encoraged to apprentice with a rehabber who is already certified for a minimum of two years before being allowed to have your own permit. I choose to remain a sub-permitee of my mentor because of the caging and inspection requirements to obtain my own permit. I live in an area where I cannot have big cages all over my yard.

My mentor also provides wildlife rehabilitation courses and uppon sucessful completion, you are allowed to become a sub-permit on their license. Of course, I obviously specialize in bobcats (almost no one will touch them) and other mammals, but we do work with birds.

I agree about the crow thing though! I have a murder of crows that lives near my house. I almost never have to worry about hawks...they alert me long before I ever see one. I love birds of prey, but certainly don't wanna loose one of my girls to one again!

 

[desertdarlene]

Ravens and crows can be bullies to other birds sometimes, but mostly they're a threat to young ducklings/chicks and to eggs. They are also smart and can sometimes figure out a way to unlock doors, open containers, etc.

 

[mothrhen]

A nesting pair of blue Jays would run off my hawk last summer. They would endlessly harass her until she would just leave. Plus the racket let me know she was around. But I expect her every day any way. Since my near miss, my girls are never out unsupervised. In fact, now they like to be out after dark! Has anyone had birds that liked the dark? They are perfectly happy in total darkness. They don't know about owls I guess but, I do. . . O, and it is pretty funny to watch them duck and cover when a heron flies over.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Just make sure your pen is secure. If the hawk can't get a free duck, he will move on. Hawks have better things to do than to sit all day every day, staring at food they can't catch.

The law against shooting or harassing raptors is FEDERAL. There is no place in the USA where it is legal to shoot a hawk, no matter what the hawk is doing to your livestock. If you have hawks, keep your chickens in a manner that the hawks can't get them. Then you won't have a problem.

Fines are tens of thousands of dollars. It might involve jail time. I suggest that you leave the hawks alone.