25th Hawk loss today

Earlier today, I lost two more kit birds to Hawks. These mark the 24th and 25th confirmed lost kit birds since July and we're not even at the height of the BOP season yet.

The losses included a young Blue Baldhead Blackburn that was still squeaking and a mature Black Baldhead Oddside that I have had high hopes for awhile. These came from two different kits. One would think after suffering a loss in one kit, the next kit out would be home free, but it's not so.

In the meantime, following the second kill, another Cooper's Hawk appeared in a tree out back to eyeball the birds in the lofts.

The Black Bald was mostly James Turner blood and had previously been hit by a Peregrine hen and was lucky enough (at the time, at least) to have been simply drilled into the ground opposed to being snatched or cut up by talons. The bird had since grown pretty hawkwise and had avoided several other attacks by promptly flying to ground or flying into thickly leaved trees to avoid attack.

Ultimately, if something is not done about the Bird of Prey problem, it will probably eventually mean the extinction of the true Birmingham Roller pigeon, as well as other types of performing tumbler pigeons,  due to the fact that Birds of Prey  always tend to seek out the best birds in a kit. As a consequence, many successful roller breeders have chosen to simply give up instead of being defenseless as these over-protected winged demons proceed to cut their kits to pieces. Some of them have even got out of pigeons entirely after it became apparent that even their penned up stock birds were not entirely safe.

Video - THINGS YOU CAN DO TO HELP KEEP THE HAWKS FROM ATTACKING YOUR Pigeons



 

Racing Homer flier, Dennis W. at Hawkbait Lofts talks about some of the tactics he is using to keep low flying hawks such as Cooper's Hawks from attacking his homers. He says: "THIS IS A SHORT MOVIE SHOWING THINGS I PUT IN THE TREES AND PUT ON MY LOFT TO KEEP THE HAWK ATTACKS DOWN....ALWAYS REMEMBER IF A HAWK IS STARVING TO DEATH NOTHING WILL KEEP HIM FROM TRYING TO GET ONE OF YOUR BIRDS."

 

In this video, Dennis W. is mainly talking about the placement of highly reflective objects around his lofts such as hanging CD's in trees, sticking them to the eaves of his loft, as well as what appear to be owl shaped mirrored reflectors. While he states that this tactic has helped, he is clear about the fact that it is not foolproof.

 

You can obtain commercially produced "bird deterrents" from Amazon.com such as those below. Do they work? Who knows? But, it can't hurt to try.

Hawks Aren't Just A Seasonal Problem

I had written earlier about flying its at or near sunset to avoid losses from birds of prey.

While my #1 kit that is being flown on this schedule has still not suffered any losses, my #2 kit, which has been flying before that kit has taken quite a pounding over the last week and a half.

At the moment, I have a big bitch Cooper's Hawk inflicting damage on my #2 kit. Over the last week she has taken three key birds from this kit, including a Black Self cock, a Red Badge hen and a younger Red Beard (both LaRue-Scouzafava line). It also just so happens that these three were proving to be the most promising three birds in the kit. The Black Self was just starting to show some short, sharp rolls, was very active (3 to 4 TPM) and displaying all the signs of developing into a good fast spinner that would be an asset in any kit. The Red Badge hen was also showing some good rolling and was always there on the same turn as the Black Self, while the Red Beard (a full niece or nephew to the Red Badge), was showing signs of developing into a good deep one. 

This particular Cooper hen is a real stone cold killer. While most Cooper's typically hunt from an ambush, this particular hen has literally been appearing from almost out of nowhere when the kit is at a medium height and has apparently made all her kills on a single pass. The Red Beard was the first to "get it" and was taken on almost horizontal attack after it had rolled about 40 feet out of the kit. When the Black Self cock was hit, I had just happened to have looked away from the kit for a few seconds, only to look back and see that the kit had exploded into 5 or 6 different directions. By time I spotted the Cooper, she was headed off to the southwest with the Black Self dangling from her talons. She got the Red Badge hen today and even though the kit had reacted to the threat, the Cooper's horizontal attack on the Badge was so effortless that I doubt if she even knew what had hit her. As with the other two kills, the Cooper flew off a very long way to the SW with her kill and vanished off in the distance. Most Cooper's Hawks, especially the males, are usually incapable of hauling a pigeon or similar sized prey away much of a distance. This is why in most cases, if a fancier can follow the hawk, their bird can  sometimes be saved before the hawk actually kills and consumes it.

Somebody hand me a box of Kleenex, please.

The only good news out of this is that last week she was chasing a very promising crested Blue Splash Blackburn hen around and missed her several days in a row despite the ease that the big bitch Cooper hen has been killing her kitmates off with. This Blackburn hen is a very strong flier and a deep roller, but not very active. As a result, she is also incredibly stable despite the fact the fact that she is a pretty a deep roller. As I had mentioned before in my article on the Blackburns, there seems to be a tendency for them to have retained some of the flying characteristics of the old Central Asiatic Sharpshooters that some early breeders had been crossing into their Birminghams in the late 19th century. This Blackburn hen can literally turn and accelerate on a dime into a short downward hooking dive. She's no Donek, but she has been able to outmaneuver this Cooper hen every time to the extent that she seems to no longer want any part of her. At this point, I think she's probably earned the right to move up into the #1 kit, just in case the big bitch Cooper happens to get in a lucky strike.

Some pigeon fanciers (all of them non pigeon fliers, by the way), will tell you that Birds of Prey are just a seasonal problem and that they are always at their worst in the Fall when they are migrating. Don't believe it.

Speaking of birds that can fly circles around Birds of Prey, check out Robert Lockwood's Vieshians while they chase the local birds of prey around. Pity the Vieshians aren't Rollers.