My two PM houses in the past 11 years have always been on a 10 inch piling 10 feet from our dock and 10 feet above the water (photo). In past years I've had a few hawk strikes, a snake attack and last week a squirrel was on the house, talk about a leap!!! I had noticed a hawk hanging around the colony before my PMs arrived this year (very late), so a couple of times I would walk toward him and start clapping to scare him, one other time I fired a pellet gun toward him (too far away to hit & I aimed low) hoping the pop-sound would scare him. I had not seen the hawk for the two weeks the PMs were here, then this morning (30 mins ago) I saw him flying across the edge of our yard from the direction of the colony and land in a neighbors yard, then with binoculars saw he had a bird in his claws as he flew into the trees, not sure it was a PM, though likely. It is what it is, but so very frustrating.
I have five PM decoys placed along the dock-walk, owl guards in front of all the 14" deep nests, extended perching rods on top that might be a barrier, so I'm thinking my colony is too large (40 nests) and maybe too attractive for the hawk and others? I wish I had a clear spot in my yard to relocate the colony but I have too many trees. Guess I'll continue to try and confront the hawk or maybe the hawk will find another prey? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hawk Attack This Morning
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B-Thrash
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Thu Jun 24, 2021 10:41 am
- Location: Summerton, SC USA
- Martin Colony History: - First 24 compartment colony built in 1996 in Awendaw, SC.
- Just replaced a 32 compartment colony built in 2013.
- New 2022 colony has 40 compartments, made entirely of 1/2" PVC-Board.
- Attachments
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Bird Brain
- Posts: 332
- Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 9:22 am
- Location: Highland Village, TX
- Martin Colony History: 2022-visitors, 2023-visitors, 2024-1 pair, fledged 4, 2025-10 pair, fledged 42, 2026-18 pair
How close is that dock roof to the martin house? If it's close, the hawk will use that roof to his advantage by shooting over it to surprise the martins. I have a neighbor close by that added an extra carport in front of his garage. The carport roof became a blind spot for his martin house and hawks would shoot over it to surprise his martins. Needless to say, he no longer has martins after 20 years of hosting them. Blind spots too close will eventually be used by hawks against martins. Martins need 360 degrees of visibility in all directions or eventually worst case scenario will occur.
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mjfog
- Posts: 446
- Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 3:40 pm
- Location: Palm City, FL
- Martin Colony History: 2018 will be my first try. 6 S&K B09s. 29 eggs - 8 fledged
2019 - 12 Troyer Horizontals with tunnels, 6 S&K B09s and 12 B011s all with tunnels. 43 eggs - 36 fledged
2020 - Rack 1 - 6 B011s, Rack 2 - 24 B011s, and Rack 3 - 24 Troyer Horizontals. All gourds have tunnels, porches and crescent/Conley 11 entrances; racks have predator guards. 161 eggs - 88 fledged.
2021 - 54 gourds-214 eggs, 184 hatched, 168 fledged.
2022 - 3 racks of 24 gourds. 363 eggs, 294 hatched, 278 fledged.
2023 - 3 racks of 24 gourds. 321 eggs, 276 hatched, 246 fledged.
2024 - 3 racks of 24 gourds. 330 eggs, 283 hatched, 250 fledged.
2025 - 3 racks of 24 gourds. 347 eggs, 281 hatched, 266 fledged.
B-Thrash, Beautiful rig you've got there. I'm a hawk guy and flew kestrels and red-tails to the lure back in the day. Have swallow-tail kites swooping over my martin colony but they seem too slow to be a threat to my birds. Remember when we erect devices that attract martins, we attract predators that like to eat martins. I have bird feeders hanging from live oaks in my yard and i find evidence of hawk kills (probably Coopers and Sharpies) every now and then. One puts up a bird attraction and the predators figure it out. It goes with the territory. Have you visited the avian predator research facility near you? It's really worth a visit. Mike