Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
1273 posts
Aug 01, 2009
9:25 AM
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Hey All, Will a Cooper's Hawk hunt in the fog? Will my birds be able to fly as long as they can see the kit box roof? I am searching for any way to fly, but I can't stand to lose any more. I tried a limited fly with three birds and that went well. So I flew three more after the first trapped, but when they were coming down I lost another young hen. I won't just mindlessly feed the hawks but I have to get them at least into the roll before I lock down for the winter. Any help, any suggestion, will be appreciated!
Thanks, Thom
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wafer kits
115 posts
Aug 01, 2009
10:42 AM
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Hi Thom;
Interesting question! I don't think Coopers hunt during a fog (not certain) but I know they will be out as soon as it lifts. A bigger concern should be that you may have an overfly. Sometimes the whole kit will set down somewhere else to avoid crashing, Al
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pat66
378 posts
Aug 01, 2009
10:57 AM
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Thom, I left out a kit of 20 young birds for the first time this morning at 8 a.m. heavy fog, they were out for maybe 30 minutes and a redtail came in and grabbed 1 and scattered the rest! it is 1:55p.m. and only have 12 birds back, so the hawks will attack in the fog! it was 1 BIG sucker!
----------had to be a redtail because it carried the pigeon away and the coopers cannot fly with a bird!
Pat
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Sunflower
GOLD MEMBER
488 posts
Aug 01, 2009
12:40 PM
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Pat, Don't know where you live, but here in the Midwest the Cooper's will grab them and fly away no problem. The Sharp Shinned will hit them and land with them.
Thom, to answer your question, I would be more afraid of losing them to the fog than the hawks, learned that lesson the hard way. Good way to lose an entire kit at once.
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Keep em Spinning
Joe
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Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
1275 posts
Aug 01, 2009
12:49 PM
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Thanks everyone, that is why I asked first. I have already lost more then I can afford or stand so, I guess I'm still in lock down. I do want to add this, I have four big crows within 75 yards of my kit box and they chase the Cooper's away but this one was so hungry it tried to attack the crows not in self defence but to eat. It just sucks all the fun out of having rollers.
Pat, Joe is right, the females are big enough to snatch and carry. You will not believe this but I watched a big female try to crab a cat! She hid in a hedge row and jumped out on it's back! I'm not sure which was more surprised.
Thanks All, Thom
Last Edited by on Aug 01, 2009 12:50 PM
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pat66
379 posts
Aug 01, 2009
1:09 PM
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All the coopers that hit mine so far had to land! must be the young ones,I run up to it and saved a couple,hope they dont get that big to hit and run!
its been like this for the past 5 years!I wish they would start getting a taste for cats, maybe they will taste better than pigeon,
I have crows that nest in the woods and you can hear them most of the day,but you seldom see them chase the hawks unless the hawk is near the woods!
Thom, good luck, sounds like you have it bad!
just flew my #1 kit and got a couple of young ones back!
Sunflower,I live in southcentral Pennsylvania!
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Pat
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Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
1276 posts
Aug 01, 2009
2:38 PM
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Pat, A taste for cats. LOL, I like that! I hope you get the rest of them in. I watched the crows fight this hawk for over an hour. I had high hopes they would solve my problem but to no avail. :( This female Cooper's Hawk is big and I think the same one I have tried to fly around for several years. She has homed in on my kit box to the point of beating her wings against the welded wire doors I have open for ventilation. The doors are locked so she has no chance but it scares the devil out of my birds.
Al, I live near a river and every morning that is clear, a hole opens up in the fog. The hole is roughly three or four hundred yards wide and right into the blue. I thought I might be able to fly early in this hole where the hawk could not see. I am not even sure how many hawks I am up against, it's hard to size them when they are diving on your birds.
Thom
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JDA
GOLD MEMBER
380 posts
Aug 01, 2009
5:24 PM
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Thom... You will get them up and they will fly 45min to an hour and she will get them when they start to land that is when my coops hit.That is how they hunt mine,one small male and a big hen coming out of the trees behind my loft in the neighbors yard.Lost one yesterday, one came back with ripped up belly.Back to shut down.Ten birds in July. JDA
Last Edited by on Aug 01, 2009 5:26 PM
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RodSD
311 posts
Aug 02, 2009
12:36 AM
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I think BOP loves to make their home near water like rivers or lakes.
With respect to fog, I have seen coopers flying and trying to chase some bird at my place. I think fog will give more advantage to predators because they can use it as a hiding opportunity.
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Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
1277 posts
Aug 02, 2009
6:09 AM
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Hey Joe, I have not lost that many that I can say for absolute but there are a few that just dissapeared. I hope being in lock down works for you but mine are just to close and she is locked in on my kit box. Good luck with yours!
Hey Rod, You are correct but you live where you live, and I can't move. I'm staying in lock down, if I don't feed her then hopefully she will move on after her young are raised.
Thom
Last Edited by on Aug 02, 2009 12:00 PM
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JDA
GOLD MEMBER
382 posts
Aug 02, 2009
7:04 AM
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Thom.. Thanks, yea it will work no free meal for them but also not training for birds,no evaluation of there progress,no culling,just looking at birds on perches shaking the feed can having them drop to feed tray and feeding. Well I guess it could be worse I could have a falcon plus these tree hunter coopers,and they would take them when the cooper sent them skying. JDA
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steve49
140 posts
Aug 02, 2009
6:56 PM
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i'm really sorry to hear about your bop issues. if it were me, and a coopers or other raptor was attacking my kitbox, i'd use a net to catch it, and carefully bag it and take it for a long drive and release it. its one thing to be sitting in a tree or catching a bird in the air, but if a bop actually attacks your property, i would think as long as you are not hurting it and simply releasing it elsewhere that it would be ok. i think a call to your local dec office, or whichever agency oversees the protection of native wildlife is asked for the proper way to handle it, you'd be ok. does the law state you cannot 'touch' or remove unharmed from your property any bop?
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Steve in Blue Point, NY
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Oldfart
GOLD MEMBER
1280 posts
Aug 02, 2009
7:05 PM
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Steve, I am not positive but I think you need a permit to do anything and they are hard to come by. I'm locking down and out waiting her. After her young leave, my hope is, so will she. I know my birds well enough to pair them on what I was able to see. I would like more time but I can manage. Thank you for your concern and thanks to all!!
Thom
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