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Holy Crap Our First Hawk Attack!!!My hands are still shaking while I'm typing this!!!
I was out scraping the loft, and since I had done my usual scan of the skies I left the Kitchen door out to the deck open so Brook could have some flying time and check out the outside of the loft. Normally the dogs come out to the deck on patrol but they were all lazing around on the sofa today... Well, Brook was making a spectacle of himself, I think he really wants to get IN the loft. I had the loft birds locked up in their nest boxes and the sunning pen open so Brook could land on it and try it out. He was going back and forth from his safety spot (on top of the kitchen door under the house roof overhang is only about 8 inches, he hunkers in there when he wants to be outdoors and feel protected) to the top of the loft trying to work out how to get on the landing of the sun pen when all of a sudden he did like a back flip back to his safety spot - at the same time I see a HAWK in the air maybe 15 feet away doing the same maneuver and taking off - I guess because it wasn't expecting to see ME there!! I yelled "IN THE HOUSE BROOK! IN THE HOUSE!" and he was totally frozen on his spot (normally he will zip in the house when I yell that, but this was his first hawk encounter and he was staring at me like COME GET ME!!! Of course the dogs immediately respond but coming out barking and ready to attack). I ran out of the loft and grabbed him, ran back in the loft, closed the sun pen window, scanned the skies then brought Brookie back inside. After a few minutes of snuggles and kisses I put him in his bedroom and he is sitting in his nest bowl with his stuffed Bunny cooing and seems settled down. Woah. OK, so I keep saying I'm cool with having free-flying birds because in almost 3 years we haven't had a hawk here. But I guess the loft has changed things and now one has noticed we're here... I guess free flying will be done in the house now. I'm gonna need some more birdie diapers!!! I only saw the back end of the hawk as it disappeared over the house, but it's banded tail makes me think it was a Coopers... DAMN. 
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Hawks just "know" where to find pigeons......
I'll never forget our first hawk attack either. I was shaking too. I still get nervous when we see one after the birds, but 9 1/2 times out of 10 the hawk leaves here still looking for a meal..........
__________________
 Renee www.lovebirdsloft.com People have the right to be stupid, but some abuse that privilege. For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. Mark Twain Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes.------ Frieda Norris
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I'm trying to figure out what kind it was - I know Coop's have banded tails but black bands. This looked like red bands, but it was not a red tailed because it wasn't a solid red, it was definitely white and red banded...
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I'm Glad Brook had a keen eye, and a safe place to hunker down into ...
Some close calls are TOO close for comfort.  Something tells me Boni and her PGwear are going to be mad busy!.... I'm So happy for you that everyones ok! Poor Brook he needs a BIG "stuffie" to snuggle up with, maybe Auntie Jenn should send him a care box!  Give him a snuggle from me!
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All the Best! ~Jenn~ One of my Favorite Quotes:  You cannot do a kindness too soon~for you never know how soon it will be too late."
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he's giving himself a bath in his water dish - i think it's the equivalent of splashing cold water on your face after a harrowing ordeal.
poor little guy, but at least he out maneuvered the hideous beast. it's still sitting out there somewhere. i heard it screech twice just a moment ago but i can't see it. i don't know about PGwear? Brook's diapers came from the bird diaper folks at Avian Fashions... I'll have to look into PGWear!! Thanks, Jenn! Maybe I'll get them all camo flightsuits. LOL http://www.flightquarters.com/bird-d...tegory_Code=SP
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The red you are talking about, is the color on the male, he has it on the tail, (banded) and on his thighs. Dave
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Quote:
__________________
Renee www.lovebirdsloft.com People have the right to be stupid, but some abuse that privilege. For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness. If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. Mark Twain Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes.------ Frieda Norris
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The color on the male what, Dave? Coopers?
Thanks for the link, Renee!
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Yes. The colors that are "buffy' Are the male coopers, Dave
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I know how you feel right now. In one of my videos, I was cursing and swearing bad because the hawk just wont stop chasing them. That hawk killed 2 or 3 birds that day. It chased 3 birds, but I was able to scare it and my birds went hiding in some bushes. It felt like a massacre!
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Let my birds out today for the 1st time at the new location...Red tail hawk go one of my Satinette droppers...Not a good day...Missing two racing birds also...Figure they will be in Sunday morning...The male that is missing,buzzed the loft 1/2 hr before dark...and went inro some trees about 200 to 300 feet away...Alamo
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Keep the faith for now Alamo! Hopefully they will be back. Sorry about that Satinette.
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It sounds like a massacre to me, RodSD.
I'm sorry.  Ugh - Alamo! I am so sorry you lost one of your Satinettes!!! I love my little Satinette hen, she's the sweetest bird in my loft. I'm going down the Whole Foods market 2 blocks away from me in the morning with some bread and dog food. I'm going to go every day and try and lure this little troop of crows that live over there back to my house, slowly but surely. I don't have any crows hanging out in my backyard, and I'd feel just a little better if I did. The Jays and hummingbirds were useless today!! I think with patience and lots of snacks I can get these local crows to relocate. There's been a bunch of hawk attacks lately in the Bay Area apparently, I guess the Hawks are feeding babies or something. I still can't figure out why he'd bother hanging around here when the bird sanctuary nearby at the Lake (less than a half mile away) has an overwhelming abundance of pigeons hanging out. I always see hawks over there. I guess this one spotted my McPigeons and thought he'd try out the drive-thru window...
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kari they are always there its just when you have your bird thats when you will notice them as they make their rounds thru your area and the fact that they now know you have birds there it makes them more visable to you since now your on the menu as well ..
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Karijo,
I've been saved by crows many times by chasing those hawks. That happened because the crows made a nest on one of the trees. They were protecting their nest. Now I don't see them and the hawk decided to use the tree as its roosting site. I didn't know you release some of your birds outside. And you still don't have traps, right, if I remember correctly?
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