Got hawks? Get crows. That's Mike Kean's answer
to hawk problems.
Mike's 30 seed feeders, 15 nectar feeders, and
six heated birdbaths attract many small birds to his three-acre New Market
yard. But so much food can concentrate unnaturally large numbers of birds in
one place — pay dirt for prowling predators.
"The down side to all these wonderful birds
was that my house became a bed-and-breakfast for every lazy hawk in the
area," said Mike. "Convinced I could solve this issue without taking
down my feeders, I read everything I could on the art of warfare with hawks.
Over the next year or so I attempted everything suggested to exit the hawk
feeding industry. I moved feeders to sheltered locations under trees, close to
the house, and even brought in large hollies to protect the feeders. This
didn't slow down the hawks at all. I protected all feeders with domes without
much improvement."
One afternoon Mike observed a family of crows
chasing off a hawk that had intruded while four of the crows were at the
birdbaths. American crows are notorious for working together to defend their
turf by harassing and chasing predators like hawks, owls, and domestic cats.
"I decided to see if I could hire the crows as protectors of songbirds and
enlist them in my war on hawks," said Mike. "My quest became to turn
my property over to the crows."
Mike succeeded. He persuaded crows to move into
his yard by offering food and water. Crow requirements include shelter in the
form of trees, a steady water supply, and calcium from dead animal bones and
songbird eggs during nesting season. Mike wanted "full time crow
protection power" but he did not want crows robbing eggs from songbird
nests to fulfill their calcium requirements. So raw chicken eggs and
calcium-enriched dry dog food are offered at the crow feeder every single day.
No comments:
Post a Comment