Expert: Julia Booth - 11/1/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I live in San Diego, CA and have a falcon or small hawk preying on my backyard chickens.

The bird in question has gotten bolder, he comes and perches in the big tree to scope out the chickens, though he generally leaves when I go outside... although sometimes he'll just go sit on the telephone pole 1/4 a block away.  He's started coming several times a day now, at different times, and has managed to get several of the smallest birds.  He is about the size of my african gray parrot, maybe slightly bigger.  Today he killed a small chicken (about twice as big as a california quail) but was unable to take flight with it so was eating it on the ground until I came along.  He has the dark bars on each eye, which, with his size, makes me think he's a falcon of some sort.  The rest of his body is brown with a lighter speckled cream and brown chest. What is your best guess as to what this bird is?  Is there a way to discourage him from coming back, other than not letting my hens free range?

I used to let my african grey parrot climb in some of the short trees in my backyard while I was outside gardening.  Now his outside time is spent in a cage.  I've heard that birds of prey don't often attack parrots because they're hook bills and look like raptors to the real raptors.  I don't want to put my parrot at risk.  What do you know about this?



ANSWER: Sounds like a Cooper's Hawk to me, perhaps a Sharp-Shinned. The two look and act similiarly, but often pray on smaller birds.

I have never heard that they "won't" attack a parrot. My understanding is that they will attack anything they think they can successfully eat and kill. A few years back, I had a Sharp-Shinned stalking my patio feeders. Little did I realize that all the song birds I'd attracted were literally a buffet for him.

I have seen a Cooper's Hawk stalk and wait patiently for weeks to get access to its prey. I advise you to NOT let your parrot wander outside and to take the proper precautions to ensure the safety of your chickens as well.

A nearby wildlife sanctuary quarantines birds in a cage for limited amounts of time, in order to test them for suspected diseased. They are INSIDE the cage and cannot get out. I watched a Cooper's Hawk come to that cage and fly around it in denial for months, before he finally realized there was no way he was going to get those birds. They are stubborn and determined. After a while, the birds in the cage were undaunted by his presence, because they knew he couldn't get in.

Anyway, I wish I could tell you different. But I'd invest in some extra fencing or chicken wire.

Julia

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thankyou Julia,

I think you are right about the identification.  Comparing pictures on the internet, convinced me even more that he is a young Cooper's or Sharp-Shinned.  I read that these birds can migrate and wonder if he might head north in spring?  How large are their territories?  His feathering is that of a young bird, does that mean he will need to establish his own territory (somewhere else) or do they all overlap?  How old are they to still have different feathering from the mature adults?  What happened to the hawk stalking your patio feeders?  Did he eventually go away?

In any case, I will take your advice to heart about the parrot, and the extra chicken wire.

Thank you for your time,

Deanna


Answer
Sorry to disappoint you on that front. The Cooper's is a year round resident and breeds in California. The Sharp-Shinned is usually a winter resident in the lower half of the US, but is now being recorded as breeding in Southern California.

Whoever he is, he's there to stay.

The good news is that this is probably a juvenile, born just this past Spring. For whatever reason, it's these younger birds that display this kind of behavior. Once they realize the prey their stalking is a no go, they will eventually give up.

The Sharp-Shinned did eventually stop coming to my patio. But he was replaced by a female and then another juvenile Cooper's. Simply put, if you have helpless birds hanging around, you're going to attract them. So, as long as you're sure your chickens and parrot are safe, it shouldn't matter. But don't be surprised if you come home one day to find a rather perturbed hawk sitting on top of the wire, looking frustrated.

African Greys can live to be 90 years old. I'd hate to see one's life cut short by an over zealous hawk.

For some reason, I never loaded the pictures of that Cooper's Hawk to my online gallery. If you email me directly, I can show them to you, if you're curious.

Julia Booth

Juliabohemian@aol.com.