How to deal with Cooper Hawk attacks

[charlesgremillion]

Are there any steps that can be taken to stop hawk attacks? Yesterday I witnessed three separate attacks by a Cooper Hawk on my colony . I’m fully expecting that the PM’s to abandon my location and feel helpless to prevent any more attacks.

[brent]

Charles, I’ve had so many attacks this season. I document most of them. I’ve witnessed, on two occasions, a small hawk take a martin. I have had Cooper Hawk attacks. The martins have a way of alerting and changing their behavior to protect themselves. I use an air horn when I see an attack. The hawk does react to the loud sound and that sound does intervene in the attack. I use decoys too because the hawk will go after the slowest and the hawk sometimes will be drawn to the decoys giving the martins time to escape. You need to move them around. I have a scarecrow which may or may not work but It looks like someone in the garden so I hope that the hawk will see it and think it might be me. I try to be out when the hawk is more likely to strike like in the early morning. Some times I’ve had attacks around the same time so I try to be out there. I have a garden under the houses and I’m retired so I have the time. Of course I can’t always be here. I did read just yesterday in the North American Bluebird Society magazine that we have to remind ourselves that with all that we do to protect our birds nature is the bigger force. Good luck. Brent

[charlesgremillion]

Mike, I completely agree with you,. Killing or wounding the hawk never entirely my mind. I was hoping for ideas to deter the attacks. As it turned out, I’ve gone from 36 PM ‘s Saturday and Sunday more than double last years count, to six today . Until Sunday this hawk has been living in my neighborhood for three years without an attack on my PM’s. I’m definitely not an expert but I suspect that with so many birds concentrated over my back yard that they were an irresistible target .
Ironically no matter how many precautions we take to protect these birds we enjoy so much , there
Is only so much we can do.

[Spiderman]

You could build a cage. I have 80+ Martins

It’s not cheap or easy but it brought an end to hawk attacks here.

I used 2”x4” wire and the Martins fly right through it and out the other side.

The hawks tried a couple of times but missed the Martin exiting the other side.

The don’t come here anymore.