andi, do you have one of those long handle thingies that are used to take down small limbs of trees? the one we have is made of wood with a clipper type thing at the end and can be extended to about 15" i would say. i was thinking you could put a rag or something on the end to scare it and then sort of quide it to the direction you want?
are hawks protected in your area? they are here, altho why i dont know, we certainly have enough of them. when i used to pick beans out in the garden they would swoop down at me like they were debating if i would make a good meal...i seem to remember waving my hat at them scared them away...and loud noises scare them too, altho i dont know that you would want a scared hawk in your garage if he decided he wasnt leaving.
wow, you have a problem girl.
to you have a minnow net?
g

I am glad the hawk made an escape. This is the time of year here that all predators are hungry - for hawks it means no more baby rabbits or baby feathered beings of any kind, and they get a bit desperate. Before we had the top of the chicken-run covered, a red-tail hawk got into the run and murdered a hen - a bit large for the hawk to carry off, so s/he made a meal of her right in the run, afterward the hawk was apparently full, but so stuffed that it could not take off, sat in the chicken-run with a full belly, but no way to go.
Finally Ron went into the run with a long-handled shovel, got the shovel under the hawk and flung it over the top of the run. The hawk actually waddled into the brush to digest the meal in peace and quiet and we got chicken-wire and some lumber and made a roof over the chicken-run.

glad you got rid of that fellow, andi. and without my expertise...LOLOL. sorry, should have read the whole message instead of rush thru ....something i do alot.
g

We have both hawks and ospreys around here. Throw in an occasional eagle and small things don't last long in the open.

New neighbors moved in across the street. They had these two adorable tiny little miniature pinchers (sp?). When the female had puppies, I couldn't stand it any longer. I went over and warned her about letting the little things out into their back yard. I just couldn't stand thinking about those little darlings being swooped up for a meal.

I had to laugh out loud at the instructions your Wildlife Department gave you, and I had mental visions of your husband in his trapping gear. It's prolly an everyday occurrence to them and they think nothing of it. I have been clawed and bitten sufficiently by my gentle little hens to take beaks and talons with anything but the greatest respect.

Like Lilo says, I have a great deal of empathy with birds of prey. Life isn't easy for that kind of predator. I get daily performances from our turkey vultures (who are carion eaters and not likely to kill anything) and it's amazing to watch them. Over the years, I see that they do their hunting with a precision routine, and it's not at all random. They plot out zones and soar up high, and circle down low and then move over to the next zone and do it again if they don't find food. Sometimes there'll be a dozen of them doing this in tandem. When they light, I know that somewhere in the fields or pastures below, an animal lays there dead or dying.

In the wintertime, I watch the routine of one particular female Cooper's Hawk. She is magnificent and for the last couple of years, I have watched her make her daily rounds. Our property is part of it, although she roosts in a grove of trees between some pastures up and across the road. After she checks out our feedings stations, she heads up to our spring grotto for awhile before moving on.

Last winter, one of her progeny (I'd presume), a young male followed her same route almost daily. It was so funny, yet sad, to watch him as he first started learning to hunt. He tried to fly into the vines after the smaller birds, and got entangled. He sat there in full view under the feeders for long periods of time, like the birds would going to fly down and into his mouth. He caught on, eventually.

I certainly didn't want to harm the hawk who are protected here. Even though I know they are responsible for the demise of some of our outdoor cats, they are such magnificent creatures I'm willing to forgive them almost anything.

The hawk got out OK & I got a great laughing fit about DH plus a good post, so I'm chalking it up to an interesting wildlife interlude.

i dont think hawks get as many cats as one might think, andie. we used to have a beautiful brownish grey and white cat that would sleep on the neighbors barn roof. when he curled up with his tail under him you would swear he was a rabbit. he went missing for about a month once and we figured he was a goner. but one afternoon he just came strolling into the yard ,..with half the skin on his back gone and three huge talon marks in him. i dont know who one the battle but i have a feeling if the hawk survivied he didnt go after too many rabbits anymore.
cat went to the vet and after some weeks of worry he was just fine.
g

Well given the amount of barn cats we've had, I know the hawks have made off with some of them - especially the kittens. The others probably fell prey to the coyotes.

Hi,
Mostly I lurk over in the photography forum.
One of your members spotted my hawk picture and mentioned you had a thread going on wildlife.
This guy was waiting for me one morning at a clients house. (I have a landscape mainteance business.)

{{gwi:179795}}

Ron

i have a confession to make: i dont like hawks! i dont like eagles or any other birds of prey.....ther! i confessed!
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Hey Ron, That looks like the guy who was in my garage.

I don't know where our local red tails moved to, have not seen one all year. During the winter I had visits from a merlin and twice a peregrin falcon. Also absent are the kestrels. Is it lack of food? An abundance on the military reseraton?
Like calliope, I like to watch the turkey vultures soar and I almost can set my watch by the black vultures. 10 AM and 3:30PM they circle over our corner.