Wow! Fantastic shots!

-Babka

Thanks, Babka -

After I took them I couldn't find my USB cable, so had to order a new one - it wasn't til I got them uploaded that I was sure I even caught him!

Are you sure that's not somboby elses turkey??

(cool hawk by the way)

Paul

What an awesome pest control method and great photos! I hope he developes a tase for voles and spends lots of time in your yard.

We have hawks here too (I guess most of north America has Red Tailed Hawks, at least that is what my 10 yo DS told me when he did a research paper on them last year) but the real predators in my yard are the Great Horned Owls and the foxes.

Isn't it great when ma nature lends a helping hand!

Alexa

I hate these things! The last two years they have nested about a hundred feet from our house. We live in the woods. This year there are two babies, they drive me nuts with their calls. Pwww pwwwwww pwwwwww all day long. I use to have lots of songbirds, many different kinds, lots of squirrels and chipmunks. I see very few birds this year, practically none, no squirrels, and most of the chippies have disappeared. I personally think there should be a hunting season on these "protected" birds. They are way toooo thick and are killing off too many of the songbirds that are slowly disappearing. I see their numbers going down year after year. Mother nature is out of wack! Sorry, I know this is the HOSTA FORUM!

Gardengirl, I love my songbirds too.
What you just described seems to happen every time Big Brother gets involved.
Look at the Canada geese problem. Yuck!
Also, thanks to PETA making it a "sin" to wear a fur coat we now have record number of roadkill.
And don't get me started on the over population of deer. Deer have become hood ornaments on my vehicles so many times that my insurance company asked if we don't hit them on purpose to fill our freezer.
Yes, the hawk is beautiful, an awesome bird, very beneficial as they were intended to be, but only in BALANCE and Big Brother has messed up that balance "again" Just MHO.

BTW, is that a hawk or a falcon in that picture?

Ok, back to hostas.....

I just found more vole damage today. They even ate daylilies that were next to the hosta. I want one of them hawks in my woods!!!

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The 2nd picture cracks me up in a weird way. I can just picture a city of voles underground, pulling plants down the hole...

Teresa emailed me and asked me to post her pics. of the hawk that landed on her deck railing!
She's having some problems getting Photobucket to cooperate with her, it appears!! :o)

He may be *shopping* but it looks like he might be a vegetarian, instead of a vole hunter!
Looks like he's eyeing her tomatoes pretty intensely,to me!!!!

Good shots, Teresa---if you look closely at the second one, you can even see
the glint in his eye!! I think he was messing with ya! LOL

I'm not happy about hawks in my yard!! I love my chips and squirrels and my new little dog,
more than those agreeably beautiful creatures of prey!!! I always chase them off, telling them to
go *graze* in someone else's restaurant--not mine!!! I know--not the politically correct stance
to take in a world of environmentalism gone manic!!

I'm all for the balance as per the design, but I also appreciate the fact that I can manage
my environment, responsibly, without making it more the priority than human beings and their
quality of life and health!!! I'm only adding this to avoid any bashing from those who think
some life creature forms are more privileged than others! I am all for their doing what they are
designed to do, but if I can protect what I value most on my little 1/2 acre--I will with no guilt!! :o)

No question about it--hawks are pretty awesome creatures--just enjoy them most in open fields!
Now---if I have a plague of voles--I just might change my mind--I have that right, too, you know!!! ;o)

Wow Hey_j and Teresa - those are great pictures.

Wendy - I watched as a sedum got pulled into a hole just like your second picture - reminded me of those old cartoons... funny except my sedum was GONE!

Sassy, it's either a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp Shinned Hawk. They are difficult to tell apart. The Cooper's is a little bit larger, but a large female Sharpie is much the same size as a male Cooper's so most folks can't usually tell. Like 'em or hate 'em, they are beautiful birds!

If you look really closely--there's a few blue feathers along the wing
of Teresa's hawk--*Cooper* trait, maybe?

Predator populations are limited by the amount of food available to them. Thus, they are perfectly in "balance" with their prey. The only way the hawk population will increase is if the population of its prey increases. When the prey population of a certain area decreases through hunting by a raptor or humans driving the prey away, the predator population will also decrease. When prey populations return to an area, guess what? So do predator populations.

We make it easy for hawks to hunt now by clearing trees (which gives raptors a better view of the ground from the air), cutting roads (which provide the perfect spot for a them to hunt as small animals must leave the cover of nature to cross the roads), and by attracting their natural prey to fixed locations in the form of birdfeeders.

If you want hawks to leave your backyard take away their food source. Stop feeding songbirds for a couple of weeks when the songbirds disappear so do the hawks. After the hawks leave put the feeders back up and you get your little colorful birds back. If the hawk returns...repeat.

By the way those are beautiful shots, nice to see raptor activity here since the raptor forum may be the dullest place on GW. You may consider posting these there.

Another thing you can do to protect the songbirds is to only place feeders where there is protection for them. Our feeders are primarily near a maple tree that has a lot of blueberry bushes near it. The birds wait in the maple for their "turn" and then retreat to the blueberry bushes as they eat.

We have a hawks, osprey and even the (rare) bald eagle. I've never seen them take a songbird. We also have Great Blue Heron.

Neither the hawks or neighbor's cats seem to make a dent in my vole population.

A friend of mine had a hawk family set up house in his yard last year. He lives near a school with playing fields, so perfect hunting for them. They made a good dent in his squirrel and chippie population, but they didn't seemt to touch the songbirds. The hawks didn't come back this year and the chippie population has rebounded once again.