Interesting. When the hawks are near my feeders, the little birds get scarce pretty quickly. They're all hungry and one species helps keep another in check, thinning the herd so to speak. Not that I like it, but it is the way of the world.

We don't put water out as the inlet and outlet to our pond is pretty swift so it freezes over only in the very coldest weather so they have plenty of access.

I had an active hawk around for awhile now. He/she is feeding on the pigeons that come to my feeders - they live at the hardware store in town but I live up on the top of the hill, so the highest point. The pigeons are annoying. They are pigs and elbow everyone else out of the way. There's no chance of them becoming extinct so I let nature take it's course. I'm not taking down my feeders either. Besides lots of people in my neighborhood have feeders so it's not like the hawks will go away.

I had a warmer in a bird bath for many years but when it died, I didn't get another one. There's usually some small source of water available except on the most frigid days.

Great picture.

We have a hawk hanging around our feeders as well. I havent gotten a good enough look at it to tell which it is. It looks to be inmature.

Great picture!

Caroline and Love Jack - great photos.

I have 4 feeders that attract birds and I love watching them. My home backs up to a large wooded area where we've observed a pair of red tailed hawks, at least one kestral and one sharp-shinned hawk, red foxes and we hear the owls at night. There's a pair of bald eagles in our area but I haven't seen them near my home.

It doesn't bother me that the predators are acting like ... well... predators. That's just how it is. I don't feel the same about my neighbor's cat who I've seen attacking birds at my feeders. Our neighborhood does not permit any pet to roam free and she just ignores it. I finally managed to get a photo of her cat sitting on my patio wall and texted it to her. No cat now for a few months.

Hawk eyeing our feeders the other day...

I call the Cooper's hawk in our neighborhood, "Mr. Cooper". What else? ha He is so beautiful, well, I guess it's a male not sure about that. There is a woods across the field so we have regular visits from hawks.

Once I observed Mr. Cooper creeping, walking stealthily, at the edge of the field near the brush, even going up into the shrubs. It was eerie to see him stalking prey that way.

I enjoyed all these photos!

Here's the guy that has been hunting in my yard. Three times I found just a pile of feathers. This time I heard the thump and he was right outside my window.

HAWK eyes winning a national championship

no jube shot available

^^ What in? I assume wrestling.

ETA: I thought you were a Cyclones fan????

It would be a rare day if we didn't see a hawk in our back yard. As in pictures that I often post here, we do have an active bird feeding program in the back yard. The hawk has to eat too, and drink and bathe.

Edited to add...there is good cover in an Arborvitae and a densely twiggy burning bush for the birds to escape to at the sides of the feeder pole. And the box feeder under the Maple tree has openings on each side that the smaller birds can escape through but the hawk cannot follow.