Live Trap Capture

[Taceas]

I had a couple of pigeons to turn up partially eaten inside a fully enclosed and locked pen, so I set my trusty live trap with the remains and lookie what finds its way back to finish its meal. :eek1:

A Coopers Hawk. A first for me. I've caught all manner of critters in live traps, but this is my first raptor.

After releasing it into the pigeon pen (without the remaining pigeons of course) while I await word on whether I can transport it elsewhere for release. Since its killed two pigeons that were in what I thought was a predator-proof pen, I don't want it around for obvious reasons. It has since finished both pigeon carcasses and is working on another pigeon today that up and keeled over yesterday.

A few things I did find out through our illustrious DNR:

1) Trapping hawks is a federal offense, even if you didn't mean to catch the hawk in the first place...

2) Keeping the hawk without a permit is also a federal offense...

3) Releasing the hawk at the location of capture or elsewhere is ALSO a federal offense...

...all punishable by some hefty fines.

Luckily, the local fish and wildlife area conservation staff assured me that I was not going to get in trouble and I was okay'd to release the hawk a county over in a state forest and hope that it doesn't find its way back here.

Finally, my 4 day captive gets to be released. I will miss it though, its a beautiful animal. =)

 

[ratsncorns]

Wow, what a find! Sucks that it ate your pigeons though. Cooper's Hawks are cool to see up close, they certainly have a lot of energy for a small hawk. At least now hes in an area with plenty of wild prey

 

[diamondlil]

Sorry about your pigeons, but what a beautiful creature! Have you worked out how it got in to the pigeon pen?

 

[MegF.]

I'd take the hawk over the pigeons! Sorry Misty! Gorgeous animal and you might want to feed it one last time before you release so that it isn't too low on weight. They burn off a lot of calories rapidly each day.

 

[Roy Munson]

Very, very cool, Misty. Sweet photos too. :cheers: I really like raptors. We mostly have red-tailed hawks in CT, but I've seen bald eagles and osprey too.

 

[ArpeggioAngel]

Wow...what a capture! Sorry to hear about your pigeons, but dang what a beautiful hawk. I have only seen them in captivity although we are supposed to have them wild down here.

 

[Taceas]

So far the days I've had it, its basically munched on a pigeon a day. So I don't think it's hurting for food too awful much. Every once in a while it'll fly around the cage and then go back to sitting on the perches for a few hours preen and sleep, resigned that it can't get out.

I'd love to keep it, but there's that whole "fine and prison" thing I don't much care for.

I don't think it got into the pen, per se. If a pigeon can't fit out, and they're 2-3x smaller than this hawk there's no way it's getting in. The only thing I can surmise is...that if what I've been reading is true, they will chase birds through the forest until they pretty much wear their prey out and then stomp or smother it to death by standing on it.

The two pigeons that died were ones that grew up in a small cage inside a home, not accustomed to actually flying. One could not fly at all due to some sort of trauma I hadn't been able to identify and the other was a weak flyer at best. So the only thing I can think of is that it somehow got ahold of them through the wire, which still boggles my mind.

But since its so talented to not only get one, but two pigeons through a 10' x 12' x 6' chain link cage in a single day tells me this is one smart bird I don't want to have around. Usually during the summer that cage is filled with small chickens as well, which are even easier pickings than pigeons.

The DNR lady kept telling me the damage to the pigeons was a coon, I don't think it was. It didn't have the typical damage I've seen in coon killings, and I've seen a lot. Not to mention, a raccoon couldn't have gotten into this pen. It's on a concrete pad, no digging in. It's got a heavy duty grate roof that's fastened down, and it's got a dog clip on the door latch, as I have had dogs and other critters to outsmart latches before.

I last saw all of the pigeons alive at 5-6am when I went to pour food in the bowl before it started raining later that morning. I discovered the bodies that afternoon, so whatever got them was during the daylight hours. Not something a coon would do, typically.

The carcasses were not chewed or had large pieces missing, nor had all the mammalian traits for consuming food. The meat was neatly picked from the bones. If it was a coon, I'm pretty sure it would have come back that night for more, which it didn't.

And the fact that I caught a hawk which normally does not feed upon carrion, and yet I caught it attracted to the carrion used as bait, which pretty much tells me its coming back for its kill.

But its still nifty to see up close. I knew Indiana had them, I just rarely see anything besides Red Tailed Hawks and the various owls we have.

 

[Russell]

Wow!

Very interesting to say the least! Thanks for sharing! Beautiful bird indeed! Somehow I get the feeling you weren't too bent on losing the pigeons!

 

[hana]

I'm sorry you lost your birds Misty.. What do you think you might do to the cage to prevent any more deaths? The reason I ask, is because yesterday when I came home we discovered all of my dear chickens dead. They were in a dog run with all the big gaps plugged up and the run is in a mostly screened in porch. Four of the chickens were still in the pen and they didn't seem to be damaged, and one little hen was out of the pen and torn up... I don't know how to make it a safe area for them. I'd like to have more chickens, but I don't want to get more knowing they could be offed that easily.



hana

 

[Mrs InsaneOne]

What a gorgeous bird, I've always loved hawks, falcons, and eagles and I could watch them soar for hours.

I'm sorry to hear he got to a few of your pigeons though and I know the laws regarding the wild ones (raptors) are strict and seem overdone - but I think that's due to poachers and the numbre that get themselves tangled up in powerlines. Glad to hear that the wildlife conservation people had a solution and he'll be going back soon.

Let us know how his relocation goes!

Jenn

 

[Nanci]

I'm glad to hear your pigeons are safe! I love raptors, but I _keep_ pigeons, in a limited capicity right now. Down here in FL, hawk season is starting up, with them all moving down for the winter. The only legal way to get rid of a hawk that is bothering your coop is to ask a falconer to trap it for you. I am sure there is much undercover removal going on. They can decimate a flock.

Raccoons are the anti-Christ as far as I am concerned. Sure, I had a cute pet one as a kid, but if you keep poultry, or even outside herps- they will come back and kill and kill and kill until the food supply is gone.

My only predators that I know of at the moment are feral cats and pet cats and a red or gray fox- can't get quite a close enough look. My only outside herp has a tight-fitting cover on his pen.

Nanci

 

[Taceas]

Hana, I'm sorry to hear about your chickens. If nothing was really eaten, I would almost suspect a dog did the damage. We've had dogs before when I was a kid to get into our chicken house by digging under the wall, and to kill 20+ chickens and 10+ peacocks...all just for the sheer fun of it. They weren't no more hungry than the man on the moon. Usually if its a wild critter, it'll kill and eat the animal, but most domestic critters are well fed enough they just kill and leave them.

I know how utterly frustrating it is. I lost my favorite rooster earlier this year in broad daylight, all I ever found were 4-5 feathers back on the edge of the woods. And he was a large heavy bird, and generally when something gets a chicken of that size, you're going to see where it happened, but there was nothing. I still have no clue what got him. I'm also missing a hen in the past month, also no sign.

This pigeon pen had issues earlier this year before we put the heavy grate top on and wired it down securely, and even then I had young opossums to get into the pen, but they were mainly interested in the chicken feed. One night I was walking from the garage to the house with a flashlight and just shined it over on the pen and saw eyes inside the pen. As I got closer I saw it was an opossum gorging itself on feed, once I got to within a foot of the cage it realized it should leave and ran to the back of the pen and actually squeezed through the chain link. I started an aggressive 2-week long offensive with live traps and caught 4 opossums and 3 raccoons, all of which were transported far from here.

Then there's the case of the young opossum I bludgeoned to death with a flashlight inside my chicken house also eating feed and I suspect eggs, which is also attached to a chain link pen that I thought was predator proof.

Hana, I would use two different shapes and sizes of wire to re-build you cage out of. If its chain link like mine, I'm planning on putting 2"x4" rectangular fence wire, and apply it on the outside of the chain link just so that the lines on the 2"x4" wire run up the middle of the diamonds on the chainlink, thereby hopefully eliminating anything carnivorous from entering.

 

[hana]

Thanks Misty.. I'm rather un-nerved at the loss of Little Jerry and his women.. It's one thing to know that they're meant for food, and I can handle that. But when they just get brutalized, it's hard.. I'd say it was a dog too, but I doubt a dog could jump high enough to get in the screened in porch.. Plus, my sister's 20-odd ducks were in there too and unharmed. Our live traps are out right now, and if we catch the cat that I'm holding suspect, it's going to 'dissappear'. The owners don't care enough to keep up with it, nor do they care when their old blind dog wonders off. But I won't get into what I'd like to do to them..


hana

 

[Taceas]

I share the same "disappearing skills" myself, Hana. We have a TON of feral cats around here that have done nothing but decimate the native wildlife. So whenever I catch one that acts like a wildcat in a trap, it disappears. I'm doing the job no one else does around here.

We're fairly isolated without neighbors, so the likelihood of it being a pet cat ending up in my yard eating food in a trap is slim to none. If I have any doubts about it being feral, I turn it in to the animal control office and let them make the assessment.

Hopefully you, like me, can get better fortifications build up and won't have to deal with it. And I also hope you can find the culprit.

While I'm not upset that the pigeons went to a noble cause, feeding a beautiful hawk, I am kind of miffed because I can't find pigeons for sale around here locally for some reason. Every time I look on eggbid.com no one ships to my zipcode for some damned reason. The lady I got these from is pretty reluctant to let any leave, but she adored the ducks I gave her so much and she knew I liked pigeons and offered them. So I hate to go back and say, 3 pigeons died within a week, can I have more?

 

[cka]

Sorry to hear about your pigeons (altho around here we call them feathered rats lol). Beautiful picture of the Cooper's, Misty

 

[ramanth]

So sorry about the loss of your pigeons, but that is one gorgeous raptor.