# Finch Frys



## imamurph (Apr 15, 2008)

Anyone have any suggestions as to how to keep a hawk away from my birdfeeders? The leaves are all falling off my trees, so there is no where for the little guys to hide. This hawk has already murdered one of my
birdies... :frusty::doh::rant::Cry:


----------



## Lilly's mom (Aug 10, 2007)

*No ideas, but that picture is beautiful did you take it?*


----------



## maryam187 (Jul 18, 2007)

Diane, I know it's cruel, but isn't that how the balance in nature is kept? Unless you are talking about the hawk killing one of your personal house birds, that would be terrible.


----------



## imamurph (Apr 15, 2008)

Yes...and it's a beautiful hawk. I just wish he'd go have his munchies somewhere else..:suspicious:


----------



## JASHavanese (Apr 24, 2007)

imamurph said:


> Anyone have any suggestions as to how to keep a hawk away from my birdfeeders?


I don't know but I'd watch my dogs closely with it out there. My daughter lives near New Orleans and after Katrina they have had all kinds of birds of prey that they didn't have before.


----------



## havaluv (Oct 15, 2007)

Diane, I have two thoughts. The first is, Can you plant an evergreen tree near your feeder so the birds have a place to hide?

The second I found online from the magazine "Birds and Blooms". I'll paste it below. I don't know if it would work, but might be worth a try.



> Hawks don't stalk the birds at our feeders since we placed a plastic crow decoy on a nearby tree branch. We got the idea after watching the crows chase hawks as they're flying. -_Tom and Susan Kirk, Nazareth, Pennsylv_


_ania_


----------



## imamurph (Apr 15, 2008)

Jan.. even though this is a young hawk I'm not sure if it would try to attack it.
Now a barn owl..I wonder how many pounds they could fly off with..

Shelly, there are some small bushes right next to the boxes which they do fly into, but sometimes they just get startled and fly into the sky where the hawk nails them.

A squirrel came down into the box this morning and when a small finch bolted out I saw the hawk come out of no where and zoom after it. 

A plastic crow sounds like a good idea, but couldn't the finches think that was a bird of prey also?

Maryam, I hear what you are saying about the order of wildlife, it's just so hard to see a hawk sitting up in the tree picking the guts out of one of those little guys


----------



## maryam187 (Jul 18, 2007)

> Maryam, I hear what you are saying about the order of wildlife, it's just so hard to see a hawk sitting up in the tree picking the guts out of one of those little guys


Diane, I hear ya! Yikes...


----------



## lcy_pt (Aug 17, 2007)

No help for you here .....just :laugh: over the title of your thread :hungry:


----------



## imamurph (Apr 15, 2008)

Well, although it was rainy and very windy yesterday, the hawk hung out in the tree for a long time!

Around dusk it had stopped raining and the humming bird came to the feeder. He must have been really really hungry, as he fed for quite a while.

I didn't realize that the Anna's hummingbird stays through the winter here, so I am going to keep two feeders out. I have been bringing them in at night so the solution doesn't get too cold or freeze..

Here are a few pics from this past summer (they're hard to photograph!)


----------



## Lilly's mom (Aug 10, 2007)

*Beautiful!*


----------



## Paige (Sep 12, 2006)

Diane, I love your pictures. I get a lot of hummingbirds here in the warm months. 


One day I noticed a fluffy cloud outside. Upon closer inspection it was a hawk in my backyard defeathering his meal. It was very interesting and gross at the same time.


----------



## imamurph (Apr 15, 2008)

Paige.. I used to take my hummingbird feeders down in late fall. Now I am finding that some stay through the winter, so I'll be keeping them filled.

Another thing I didn't know was that they go into a semi hibernation state at night to slow down their metobolic state. If they didn't do this they would die!
Now I know why they are at the feeder at the crack of dawn...


----------

