First Successful Accipiter Hawk Attack In 2005

[Steve Kroenke]

First Successful Accipiter Hawk Attack In 2005

March 16, 2005 was not a good day for the purple martins in my neighbor?s (Bob) yard and mine. A cold breezy cloudy day seemed to sap the strength of the many martins in both our colonies. While the permanent residents mainly stayed inside their nests, the un-established martins would sit lethargically on the gourd crossbars and T-14 perches. However, the established martins would make short flights to ?relieve themselves? on their ?poop missions?! They flew around some but usually returned and entered their nests. With no flying insects to catch, the martins reflected stress in their drooping wings and fluffed up bodies. Though one day without food is tolerable, the miserable weather conditions for the martins did not perk them up and made them less cautious. They were now vulnerable to a killer and our open colony sites were not infallible.

On occasion that day I noticed the martins seemed somewhat agitated in spite of the adverse weather conditions. Bob?s huge super martin colony had many un-established martins sitting on gourd crossbars or house perches. Then I would see them scatter and climb above the colony site. I didn?t realize it then, but feathered death was stalking them and perhaps had already struck. Once he tasted the succulent sweet martin flesh, he would be back.

Because of the cold wind, I did not spend much time outside observing our colonies and the resident martins largely stayed inside their nests. But I did watch the non-residents flying slowly back and forth between our colonies. Oh, such easy targets without the eyes of all the martins looking for danger!

I was sitting at my dining room table, looking through the front windows and watching my martin colony though there was no activity. It was around 6:00 pm and cold and cloudy. I had seen two male martins flying back and forth between Bob?s colony and mine earlier and they at one time climbed rapidly in the sky. Well, then I noticed a male martin flying slowly and low toward my colony when he suddenly tried to climb quickly. It was too late and I saw approaching death! A small male sharp-shinned hawk had apparently been stalking the martin all the way across an open area between our two colonies and with no martins around to give warning alarms the hawk had it easy. I saw the trailing hawk accelerate, flare up and grab the martin with both feet it seemed and then flutter to the ground in front of my middle gourd rack. Horrified, I rushed to the front door and tried to open the storm door. It was locked at first and then seemed to be stuck! For a few seconds I watched the little martin?s wings beating as the killer pinned him to the ground and sank his deadly talons deep inside. I finally got the door open and the hawk flew up and barely managed to carry the martin across my front yard, the road, and into a woodlot some 200 yards to the southeast. The hawk was only about a foot off the ground and I could see the martin?s wings hanging from the talons. At this point I wasn?t sure if ?one of my males? had been killed. I figured it was one of the many newcomers since the martins in my colony were largely nest bound for most of the day.

March 17, the adverse weather broke and the sun came out. I was able to conduct a head count and all my ASY males were accounted for! So the hawk?s victim was apparently a newcomer that had survived a treacherous long journey from southern Brazil to northwest Louisiana only to be eaten at a place he perhaps hoped to raise his family. What irony!

With the return of clear decent weather, martins were more active and aware of their surroundings. The martins were now in charge of the situation and no Accipiter hawk could get close without being noticed. Twice, Accipiter hawks made appearances and the martins saw them in plenty of time to escape high in the sky. On one occasion, Bob?s colony in mass climbed at a terrific rate of speed to the south. Awesome! They were streaking upward like feathered missiles with their long pointed wings curved back and beating rapidly; no raptor could catch these speed demons in the open sky. Within seconds a large mature female Cooper?s hawk came directly from the east at a high rate of speed over the tops of some tall trees and dove down north of his colony and continued on. There were no martins vulnerable anywhere and she headed for Texas! In this case, apparently other martins higher up saw the approaching danger and may have emitted danger calls. Also, if martins which are at their colony site see other airborne martins (or flocks of other birds like cowbirds or blackbirds) suddenly start flying rapidly and climbing, then the colony bound birds will usually flee, too. That flight pattern is an indication to martins that a predator may be on the prowl. With more eyes watching, martins have a better chance of evading the Accipiters in open colony sites.

Later in the afternoon, Bob and I scouted the woodlot where I saw the sharp-shinned hawk take his victim. After looking around, I found the ?abattoir? where the killer had butchered the male martin. In an open space under a small bush and next to a thick grape vine stalk, there were the plucked feathers of the male martin. They were not arranged in any order, but scattered within a restricted area of perhaps a foot in width. His wing and tail feathers were there along with a mixture of deep purple, dark gray and even several white ones. Accipiters will consume some feathers along with the flesh. The hawk was efficient in butchering the martin and fed well that evening.

This Accipiter hawk attack was among many during the 2005 martin season with the vast majority occurring during the fledging process. While the migratory Accipiters and merlins constantly ?visited? our colonies from March until mid-May, it was the resident Cooper?s hawks that inflicted the greatest mortality on the martin fledglings. But the huge number of fledglings in an ironic twist of fate almost completely eliminated any predation on the adult martins by the hawks. Like most predators, the Cooper?s hawks focused their hunting on the highly vulnerable martin fledglings and largely ignored the much swifter and wary adults.

Steve Kroenke