That one week last August when my feeder turned into a hawk diner

I had this amazing streak going where I was getting like 20 goldfinches a day at my nyjer sock feeder. Then one Tuesday I noticed everything went dead silent. No birds at all for three whole days. I thought maybe I forgot to refill but nope, feeder was full. Turned out a Cooper's hawk had figured out my yard was an all-you-can-eat buffet and was perching on my neighbor's fence every morning at 7am sharp. I watched him snatch a mourning dove right off the ground near my bird bath. After that week my yard went from 15 species down to just the brave sparrows and a single blue jay. Took almost two months for the little guys to come back. Anybody else had a predator ruin their whole backyard birding setup for a while?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_keith18d ago

A buddy of mine had a sharp-shinned hawk clear out his whole yard last fall, took him nearly four months before the chickadees and finches would even come near his feeders again. He ended up putting a big brush pile out by the fence to give them somewhere to dive into.

elliotl2418d ago

I totally feel you on that. @the_keith 's buddy pretty much had the same thing happen. For me, what actually worked was taking down my tray feeder for a few weeks and only leaving the tube feeders up, since the hawks couldn't land on them as easy. I also moved my nyjer sock way closer to a thick bush so the goldfinches had a quick escape route. It still took about six weeks before the doves and juncos felt safe enough to come back to the ground.