We have had a pair of Cooper's Hawks nesting in our neighborhood for the past two years. I like watching the hawks, and don't want to harm them in any way, but they have completely driven off (or eaten!) all our songbirds. Two weeks ago, we had scores of sparrows, chickadees, and juncos, as well as 3 pairs of cardinals at our feeder. There were so many birds that they were waiting on the railing adjacent to the feeder for their turn -- and we have a large feeder -- 12 cup capacity with at least a dozen feeding ports. We were refilling the feeder every day or every other day. Five days ago, the songbirds just disappeared overnight -- went from frequent refilling of feeder to no activity at all for last four days. This morning, we saw the Coopers Hawks for the first time this season, although they may have been in the area for a time. I can't believe they could have devoured all the songbirds, but they've surely intimidated them to the point where the seed level in our feeder has remained unchanged for four days. I was surprised when the hawks first showed up, as I really didn't think they'd nest in town. (We live in residential neighborhood of medium-sized lots in a relatively small town.) Our neighborhood has the usual amount of "commotion" that goes on in a neighborhood with young families, working couples, and retirees -- vehicle noise of frequent comings and goings, usual noise made by kids and pets (mostly dogs), and seasonal power equipment (mowers, snowblowers). While we don't live in an unusually noisy area, it's by no means quiet either, and the noise level doesn't seem to deter the hawks one bit. Last summer, I noticed that I didn't see or hear the hawks for a few days when a flight of crows stopped in our area for a day or two. We also have at least one owl (not sure what kind, but I suspect great horned owl by its calls), which we were hearing nightly for most of the winter, although I haven't heard the nightly hoots for a few days. Although I have no great love for crows, I'd like to see a few more around, as they seem to keep the hawks at bay. What else can we do to encourage the hawks to "move along" and leave our songbirds alone? As I said, I have no desire to harm the hawks in any way; I'd just like to see them relocate.

Please...goshawks are very secretive and protective. The stories you've heard/read are accurate -nesting goshawks are viscious and their talons are extremely dangerous. I watch 2 pair in CT and though I've birded for 30 years, would not go anywhere near their territory during breeding season for two reasons: my own physical safety, and the safety of the nest. (I accidently happened into the outskirts of a goshawk nesting territory once and was pinned down under a tree for a long time before I could get out of there safely. I was nowhere near a nest! But the parents did not want me in that area of the woods, and it was a very large area that they defended - they actually came out to the trail to warn off hikers). Perhaps MOST IMPORTANT, it's not healthy to enter the nesting territory of ANY nesting bird, including raptors. When human scent is brought into a nesting territory, predators follow and can destroy a nest within a few hours. I've sadly seen this happen with great horned owlets when well-intentioned people just wanted to get a little closer to photograph the nest. Those well-intentioned people ended up ruining a perfect nest site with 2 small owlets, and I lost 2 months of time I'd invested watching them safely from 1/2 mile away - very sad and frustrating. Suggestion - invest in a very good spotting scope and watch raptors in non-breeding season (late summer thru early Fall - leave them alone from December on) from a distance of at LEAST 1/4 - 1/2 mile. You can see perfect detail at those distances without disturbing the raptors. (And they WILL see you and get restless if you get closer). Same for photos-use a 400 or greater digital lens and then blow up the photos. Watch for conifer treelines/outcroppings in deep woods late afternoon to sunset. Goshawks will gently glide across the sky into their roost area like a quiet gray ghost. The bird's activity, its habitat, etc are much more enchanting to watch daily from a safe distance. You will be rewarded greatly and the raptors will be safe and remain nesting in their preferred territories.

Most hawks do migrate to areas south of their summer ranges. Red tailed and swainson's sometimes migrate to places in south america. Falcons as well are long distance migrants. Thousands of broad winged hawks migrate as a "kettle" that is a large group, and hawk watchers can often observe this behaviour in late fall at various places throughout north america.

Speaking just for myself, I check this forum every day to see what's been posted and I'll respond to a post if I have something useful to say, but I don't usually initiate a thread here. My first choice is to post on the New England Gardening forum where we have an ongoing birds, etc. thread (Birds and other mobile features in the garden). I'll post here if I want really knowledgeable identification from experts such as whwo and tmff but otherwise the people in the regional forum can and will contribute. I also must admit that I'm really put off by the periodic "kill the house sparrows" and "kill the birds nesting on my porch" threads and it disgusts me to read them (I know, the answer is don't read a disgusting thread but I usually do just to see what's being said). Claire edit note: I know I'm exaggerating when I say the threads are about killing birds - many of them are aimed at scaring the birds away or otherwise deterring their presence - but too many of them show gratuitous cruelty.