Comments on: No, they won’t eat corn

By: Kate StJ

Kate StJ — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:47:43 +0000

Predators – hawks, cats, etc – are normal at feeders but it sounds like your picture window could be making it extra hard for the birds to escape. If your feeders are relatively close to the window, the birds don’t “see” the glass when they try to flee. They only see a hole (room) to escape into and slam into the window. By simply moving the feeders away from the window and further out in the yard, you can significantly reduce window kills and stunned birds that are picked off by hawks. Alternatively you can keep the shades or blinds partially closed or put special decals on the window. There’s a lot of information on how to protect your window and the birds at: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/attracting/challenges/window_collisions

By: Gaill Meister

Gaill Meister — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 02:25:06 +0000

I have a sharp-shinned hawk that has helped him or herself to quite a few birds at my feeder. The last one was a blue jay. It has slammed a robin into my picture window then took it when it fell below the window. It has also tried to take off with my cat in the front picture window. It scared the cat to death for a short time. She would not come out from the chair for a couple days and did not sit on the window sill for a number of weeks. The bird knocked itself silly and sat on the tree branch outside my window for about ten or so minutes trying to regain it senses. I now see I have a larger hawk hanging around but have not seen it long enough to identify it. I watch my Italian Greyhound quite closely when I let her out. I do not want to let her be hawk food no matter how much I enjoy watching the birds.

By: Marjorie Vantassel

Marjorie Vantassel — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:01:10 +0000

That’s what’s so wonderful about nature–I just began birding (besides feeding birds in backyard, which I did for years). I had a sharp-shinned hawk swoop down from woods behind my back yard and field behind that and grab a sparrow from my feeder when we had our first snowfall in Gilpin Township. After all, as they say on birding forums and other nature sites–hawks have to eat, too. That’s one way of nature keeping things in balance.
I thoroughly enjoy your website. Thanks for all the interesting articles, photos, etc.