For the Birds: Birds of Prey have gotten a bum rap

Sharp-shinned hawk. Photo by Ron Green

By Christine Southwick

Birds of prey, also called raptors, have it hard. Nobody wants them in their neighborhood. Smaller birds mob them to make them leave, and many people scare them away when they see them at their feeders.

Hawks, falcons and eagle s are all day hunters, which is called diurnal. It is common to see any raptor, except Osprey, being mobbed by crows, red-winged blackbirds, or almost any breeding bird. Most all birds ignore Osprey since they only eat fish and don’t have baby birds on their menus.

Owls are also birds of prey, but since they hunt at night, the only time they are mobbed by smaller birds is early morning before an owl goes to its roost, or when crows or chickadees discover an owl on an exposed roost.

In this area, we have Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper’s Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Peregrines, Bald- Eagles, Osprey, Barred Owls, Northern Saw-whet Owls, and in some places Barn Owls, and an occasional Short-eared Owl. Many raptors breed in this area, including a pair of Merlin who have set up housekeeping in a tall tree in Shoreline for the second year.

Cooper's Hawk. Photo by John Tubbs.

Mortality is high for raptor youngsters. Many raptor species have up to a 75% mortality rate for the first year. Fledglings only have a few weeks before their parents migrate South, often as far a South America. They need to learn how to hunt well enough to feed themselves, without crashing into windows, telephone lines, or moving cars or trains.

Then they have to travel South by themselves, and hunt food as they fly hundreds of miles each day. Fledglings need to find an unclaimed–productive-enough habitat to feed themselves until it is time to fly back here for the summer breeding.

After they are grown, another danger is eating poisoned vermin. Did you know that grinding up a couple of vitamin D tablets into some peanut butter and putting the peanut butter in a rat run will kill the rats, but not harm raptors, cats or other predators? Tis true. I’ve used it successfully.

Because they are at the top of the food chain, raptors can die from eating prey with lead shots, or other human caused contaminations, like pesticides.

Photo by Wendy Duncan

Raptors help keep flocks healthy and smart. Birds that are ill are slower, and easier to catch. Birds that are less intelligent are more easily tricked and caught. Birds that have learned to adapt to being hunted, are more adaptable in general, and more likely to survive.

Raptors are birds of speed, grace and intelligence. Where you see birds of prey means that the area is reasonably healthy, and that you are doing things right for the birds. Remember that the smart birds hide, and wait until the hunter is gone, before venturing out again. Birds of prey are an important balance in the bird world, maybe even in your own yard.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she's sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.