Feeders’ dark side: Hawks, bully birds

Some hawks, including the Cooper’s hawk (shown here) and sharp-shinned hawks prey on smaller birds making backyard bird feeders attractive hunting grounds.
Some hawks, including the Cooper’s hawk (shown here) and sharp-shinned hawks prey on smaller birds making backyard bird feeders attractive hunting grounds.

— Not all seed gobblers are mammals. Crows, grackles, blackbirds, cowbirds and starlings are troublesome birds at feeders. They come in great flocks, eat more than their fair share of the food and intimidate songbirds, which many bird-watchers would prefer to see.

The best way to discourage these large winged creatures is to place a feeder inside a cage of wire that has mesh large enough to let a titmouse in, but small enough to keep a blackbird out. Ordinary chicken wire works well. The interlopers may get the scraps that fall to the ground but they will not get to the mother lode of seed inside the cage.

You can reduce some unwanted birds by selecting your bird seed with the birds you want to attract in mind. Thistle seed is candy to goldfinches, house finches and purple finches, but most other birds and squirrels won’t eat it unless desperate. Buntings like millet though it is shunned by some other birds. Be cautious of some birdseed sellers’ claims, however, that their brands will attract only colorful birds. Those claims are unproved. Some brands of suet cakes have pepper in them that is apparently too hot for squirrels, but seems to taste perfectly fine to woodpeckers and chickadees.

AVIAN PREDATORS

Some avid bird-watchers who maintain bird feeders are troubled by the appearance of hawks that swoop down from trees or the eaves of houses to prey on the concentration of songbirds that frequent a well-stocked feeder. The offending hawk is usually either a Cooper’s hawk or a sharp-shinned hawk. These two predators have birds as a primary diet item. It can be startling to see one of these hawks strike a dove or junco in your yard in a flash of fear, fury and feathers.

As frightening as such an attack can be, it is good to remember that the hawk is simply doing what it takes to survive. If it were not killing the finch in the yard, it would be eating a cardinal in the forest. Hawks are a protected species and it is a violation of the Migratory Bird Act of 1918 to kill them, even if they are killing birds in your yard. It is part of the natural order of things, such as a robin pulling a worm from the earth or a phoebe catching a moth on the wing.

If a hawk attack happens at your feeder, it can be a spectacular sight to witness and a reminder that all birds have a struggle to survive.

Hawks can be deterred from attacking birds at a feeder if the feeder has a roof. The roof also protects the birdseed dispenser in foul weather and keeps it dry to prevent rotting and harmful bacteria growth. The hawk does not have a clear path to attack a songbird on a feeder with a roof. Usually, however, birds scatter the seeds to the ground below the feeder, and the hawks take the birds that are gleaning the scraps rather than trying for those under the roof.

HomeStyle, Pages 36 on 12/29/2012

Upcoming Events