Visiting Sparrow Hawk

[Steve JH]

What to do,this may not be the forum for this topic but lets try,part of my pleasure of birds is to feed them in the garden all year round, to my joy over the last two years i have lured gold finch, siskin, green finch,chaffinch,wood peckers etc into a previously barren garden,,Just of late my seed feeders have stopped being used dramaticly ???? I now have a resident sparrow hawk ???

I am well aware that the purists willsay serves you right, but as buitifull bird as it is,,is there any action i can take to deter it from sitting on the fence watching the feeders ?

Regards Steve H

[Brightnbeautiful]

From time to time this happens to me also , I stop putting out the birdseed for a couple of days and the Sparrow hawk then goes away . If the hawk was to sit up on my fence ,I,d be thrilled and be shooting away with my camera....but he is always well hidden up in our fir trees and I only see him when he swoops in for a kill.... and sometimes I only see a few falling feathers he,s so fast ! Debs : )

[k4t3]

I also had this problem, culminating in sprawk taking collared dove, but not killing it as cat interrupted kill. Posted on here for help but got nothing but abuse initially. Have to realise that in feeding birds u are enticing hawks to feed, but feel that if u want to watch birds u embrace all types n should be aware of that. Everyone has different beliefs in this and u should listen 2 all b4 making yr mind up, free thinking 2 all.

[daffy66]

hi steve
there was a thread about this a few weeks ago see attached link.

for those who want to stop sparrowhawk attacks in garden

i too have suffered the sprawk attacks but iv accepted that its only nature. create an oasis and you'll get the predators following.no problem its happened for millions of years and will do for millions of years to come.
my problem is i cant get the birds to come back. the garden backs onto a playing field with a line of trees down 1 side beyond that is waste land thats just over grown grass/weeds. the other problem is that theres at least 7 cats that hang around the garden aswell.
john

[willing to learn]

Originally Posted by Steve JH

What to do,this may not be the forum for this topic but lets try,part of my pleasure of birds is to feed them in the garden all year round, to my joy over the last two years i have lured gold finch, siskin, green finch,chaffinch,wood peckers etc into a previously barren garden,,Just of late my seed feeders have stopped being used dramaticly ???? I now have a resident sparrow hawk ???

I am well aware that the purists willsay serves you right, but as buitifull bird as it is,,is there any action i can take to deter it from sitting on the fence watching the feeders ?

Regards Steve H

If the garden birds have stopped using your feeders dramaticly. The Sparrow hawk will move on, follow the prey it feeds on.
Regards
Colin

[FUDGEY]

Look at is this way, if you didn't feed the birds they would be spread more evenly around the area where the hawks normally hunt. By feeding them you are concentrating its prey into a more concentrated area. The hawk has no alternative to follow. I can't see how anyone can justify trying to stop this bird from doing what it does naturally especially when you are feeding and bringing its prey into a small area. Would you be at ease if someone gathered most of the natural food from a forest and put it in a small area then cover it with a small meshed enclosure so only sparrow sized birds could get through? It's the exact same thing, let the Blackbirds etc struggle for food???