American Kestrel.. Dove hunters be careful..

My falconry apprenticeship is slowly taking off and I am getting to work with a variety of raptors.
My absolute favorite raptor to fly is the American Kestrel(Falco Spaverius)(while I like the Harris's hawk, and goshawk, the Kestrel is a stick of dynamite in a tiny body). They tend to hang out near open fields, and this can be a problem as an inexperienced hunter can mistake them for a large dove/pigeon. I hear stories all the time when I walk in the hunting store about dove hunters "accidentally" shooting hawks or falcons, that is unfortunate as these raptors have never caused an issue for 99.99% of hunters or farmers. The occasional free range chicken may get got, but thats a risk associated with free ranging your barn yard pimp.
http://www.gulfshorespierfishing.com...tid=6790&stc=1
Please be mindful of these little guys, their habitat is slowly disappearing.

Females will be brown/Rufus and males will have slate/blue wings and head, they are able to hover in the fields while searching for insects/mice/birds. The call of a Kestrel is a shrilled "Klee klee klee klee"...

I like the little guys, and yes they do tend to look like a dove when flying in fields. The kestrels are definitely unique little birds, but don't be so quick to lump them all into the harmless category. We have red tails everywhere here. Several problems tend to arise with them around poultry farmers, as well as the occasional newborn kid or lamb (buzzards too, and that includes newborn calves). In one case for us, not only were we not raising free range chickens, but there was a wire top over the pen than held black giants (should be big enough to deter most aerial predators since they can weigh up to 13 pounds). Had a hawk land on the wire top and finally find a hole to sneak through and was trying to kill a hen when we found him. Several times in the past, when we didn't have a wire top, we lost chickens to hawks (not to mention everything else that tries to kill them).

very true. I’ve seen a lot of dove hunters almost shoot kestrels by accident. They have a different flight pattern, that’s the only way I can tell them apart. Posted up on a power line kestrels look like a large mourning dove.

I’ve had two run ins with Cooper’s hawks killing my chickens. That’s a smart bird, they just sit there watching for several minutes just thinking out an attack plan. I ran him off, and five minutes later I hear my chickens screaming, rooster ain’t worth killing, didn’t even try to defend his flock. Crafty little chits hawks can be...

Shallow- I agree they can be a problem to a few people with small livestock, but so are coons, fox, yotes, fire ants, etc. I hear stories from farmers(unknowing I actually love raptors) using #2 dukes nailed on fence posts with a mouse to catch and kill hawks. I never had an issue with my flock of chickens unless I free ranged them. I had roughly 400 birds. I haven't thought about a RT killing a goat kid, but i guess that is possible. Vultures are overpopulated starving to death. There is not enough carrion for them to survive on and they don't take live prey..

Wire is a must on open coops :)

What do they taste like ;-) lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pier#r

What do they taste like ;-) lol

---

A hefty fine lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pier#r

What do they taste like ;-) lol

---

Like Spotted Owl

I know this sounds disagreeable, but no one has ever seen a red tailed hawk with anything larger than a squirrel, or small rabbit. Do not have the lift capabilities. The Golden Eagle has been documented for thousands of years taking baby goats and lambs, up to 8 lbs. The Osprey can lift up to 10 lb., and that has been documented. The greatest lift ratio for a bird is most likely the Shrike, which has been documented taking song birds equal or slightly above their body weight. Encyclopedia of North American Birds, John K. Terres. We have witnessed Peregrines taking Pigeons, and Coopers taking Pigeons, always fun to watch. And a Great Horned Owl took a Crow off the side of the road one evening.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bodebum

The greatest lift ratio for a bird is most likely the Shrike, which has been documented taking song birds equal or slightly above their body weight. Encyclopedia of North American Birds, John K. Terres. We have witnessed Peregrines taking Pigeons, and Coopers taking Pigeons, always fun to watch. And a Great Horned Owl took a Crow off the side of the road one evening.

---

I love a loggerhead shrike.. they, like the kestrel are becoming threatened. The little shrikes go after my bait mice faster than the kestrels...

My nephew and I seen a Loggerhead take a Purple Finch, cut off the wings and head and fly away with the body, which is about the size of a Shrike. We used to find small frogs, lizards, and large grasshoppers stuck on the barbed wire fence, that the Shrike would come back to if he didn't find another meal. My Granny called them "Butcher Birds".

I'm happy to see that there are other raptor lovers on here. My parents were both avid birders and taught me how hawks fit into the world. I, also, am a big fan of the loggerhead shrike, but there don't seem to be very many of them around here. One of my other favorites is the swallowtail kite, which hangs out around the rivers---I saw several this past spring.

Mr.C, I admire your patience and dedication to participate in falconry. I agree with your observation about loss of habitat---and I expand it to include nearly all our wild birds---not including starlings, pigeons, golf course geese, etc. I seem to have fewer birds and fewer species of birds each year at my bird feeders, more's the pity.

The birds help keep me entertained at my favorite ladder stand that looks out over Bassett's Creek Valley where I can watch the hawks and vultures soaring on the thermals. I always carry a couple of pounds of bird feed and scatter it along the edge of the field near my stand---I can play "Count the Cardinals", listen to the whitethroats, watch the fox sparrows argue with the field rats, enjoy the precision flying of the cedar waxwings and have even had a little covey of quail come to eat and gossip---noisy little guys.

I just get blessed watching the woodpecker's big and small carrying off the corn, plus the squirrels till the deer show up, sometimes to wake me up through the dry leaves.....here and there a hawk will navagate through the trees, but you know when that's happening when the sqirrels are sounding off like never before, black birds/crows hassling the hawks when the leaves are all gone

Haywire, your observation of fewer birds matches what we see here. On any given day, there should be 12 to 20 specie in our yard. We have tallied a high of 40 specie during migrations. Currently we observe 6 or 7 specie. The change makes us sad. The causes for the change are many, complicated, and difficult to address. All that means is I must work harder, and take whatever time I can spare to enjoy as much of what is wild as I can.

Haywire you have an important PM

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bodebum

I know this sounds disagreeable, but no one has ever seen a red tailed hawk with anything larger than a squirrel, or small rabbit. Do not have the lift capabilities. The Golden Eagle has been documented for thousands of years taking baby goats and lambs, up to 8 lbs. The Osprey can lift up to 10 lb., and that has been documented. The greatest lift ratio for a bird is most likely the Shrike, which has been documented taking song birds equal or slightly above their body weight. Encyclopedia of North American Birds, John K. Terres. We have witnessed Peregrines taking Pigeons, and Coopers taking Pigeons, always fun to watch. And a Great Horned Owl took a Crow off the side of the road one evening.

---

Well I hate to disagree but there have been lots of sightings of red tails with much larger prey than squirrels, mine is just one example. I never said he tried to fly off with a chicken. That's one huge misconception about birds of prey. Lots of times they simply eat at the kill site. Heck, there was even trail cam footage a couple of years back showing an eagle attacking and killing a deer in Russia. Didn't try to fly off with it but did kill it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mr. Cleland

Shallow- I agree they can be a problem to a few people with small livestock, but so are coons, fox, yotes, fire ants, etc. I hear stories from farmers(unknowing I actually love raptors) using #2 dukes nailed on fence posts with a mouse to catch and kill hawks. I never had an issue with my flock of chickens unless I free ranged them. I had roughly 400 birds. I haven't thought about a RT killing a goat kid, but i guess that is possible. Vultures are overpopulated starving to death. There is not enough carrion for them to survive on and they don't take live prey..

Wire is a must on open coops :)

---

Our vultures keep fairly well fed up here since the armadillo infestation in about 97 for my home county. And while the old turkey vulture has not been a problem as far as I know, there is lots of documentation on black vultures/buzzards attacking a killing newborn calves. This happened to s coworker of mine a few years ago. It happened enough during the early 2000's to make headlines in lots of agriculture publications.

oh and as far as other animals attacking chickens, we take care of those too. And yes I use traps. Back when people had to rely on the food hey ate, they wouldn't tolerate any animal that came between them and their main food source (meat and eggs). I'm not against raptors, but I am practical about the effects when the populations reach high densities.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShallowWaterAngler

there is lots of documentation on black vultures/buzzards attacking a killing newborn calves. This happened to s coworker of mine a few years ago. It happened enough during the early 2000's to make headlines in lots of agriculture publications.
Back when people had to rely on the food hey ate, they wouldn't tolerate any animal that came between them and their main food source (meat and eggs). I'm not against raptors, but I am practical about the effects when the populations reach high densities.

---

Thats interesting. I should have said they are less likely.. There's always the exception to any rule, especially in nature... A lot of our local farmers know they can call general or master falconers to remove the problem hawks(usually a coopers hawk).

[QUOTE=Mr. Cleland;122619]There's always the exception to any rule, especially in nature...
While on the deer stand yesterday I kept hearing what I thought was a hawk screaming like they do while flying but it didn't sound exactly right. Close, but not exactly. About 30 minutes later I heard it much closer, and after a minute or so, a blue jay flew in and it was him making that sound. Now I've been interested in birds since my Grandmother got me started when I was very young and I have never heard a blue jay that sounded like him. If someone had told me it was a blue jay without seeing it for myself I would've told them they were nuts. Pretty cool! You never know what nature will teach you. You're right Bill. Nothing gets the squirrels fired up as quick as a hawk flying through the woods. They'll tell on a deer too but you know it when there's a hawk around.
I don't know if the sun warms the bugs up enough to get them moving around 10:30 or 11 or what but about that time the woods came alive with kinglets, nuthatches, woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, wrens, jays, you name it. Even had a titmouse land on the arrow I had nocked in my bow. Nothing fills the soul like time spent in the woods.