Don's Jersey Birding: That's why they call them bird feeders

[Donna]

By Don Torino

My phone calls and e-mails start to get heavy this time of year, and they usually begin like this: “Help! There is a hawk eating my birds at the feeder in my backyard - how do I stop it?�

My usual answer is, “That is why they call them bird feeders.�

Although some of my colleagues think that I am being mean by saying that to folks, it is true.  By setting up backyard bird feeders, we have also created a different kind of feeder for birds of prey.  Hawks, such as red-tails, Cooper’s, and sharp-shinned have adapted well to our backyards when there is food present.  As winter goes on and natural food sources dwindle, birds become more concentrated at feeders.  Just as birds such as nuthatches, chickadees - and let’s not forget squirrels - come for your bird seed, so do birds of prey.  The only problem is that their food may be that beautiful cardinal or that furry little squirrel that the whole family loves.

I received a phone call not too long ago from a woman who was very upset and crying.  She told me that she and her four year old daughter were terribly upset because a hawk took a cardinal in the backyard, which was her child’s favorite bird.  Although psychology is not one of my talents, I felt like her daughter was reacting more to her mother’s over-reaction then to the actual event.  I suggested that this might be a good time to teach her daughter about the balance of nature and the circle of life.  Needless to say, I was not much help that day.
 
Dave Hall, Bergen County Audubon Society director of field work, says he has seen an increase in Cooper’s hawks hunting in backyards over the past 10-12 years.  They have become very common in winter and then are gone from the backyards by the summer.
 
So how can you tell if there is a hawk using your bird feeder?  The first sign could be feathers on the ground, but don’t rule out the neighborhood cat.  If the food in your feeder seems to be untouched or birds in your yard seem to be frozen or stiff, that is a sign that there is a hawk somewhere in the area.  The birds may stay stationary in a tree or shrub for hours, not moving or even flinching for as long as the hawk is nearby.

When I first noticed this behavior, I was looking out of my window at a downy woodpecker that seemed to frozen to a branch.  After watching it for more that an hour, I walked outside to get a closer look.  That’s when I noticed a sharp-shinned hawk perched on the other side of the tree about two feet away from the woodpecker.  The hawk looked right past the woodpecker, but had that little bird moved even a feather, the hawk would have had lunch in the blink of an eye.
 
I have also been in my backyard when a hawk was present and looked into my shrubs and have been eye to eye with little birds huddling to hide from the predator above.  They would rather take their chances with me than fly away and get nabbed.

Now, I’m not without feelings myself.  As much as I am in awe of raptors in action, I can’t say I totally love it when a sharpie swoops in and snatches a chickadee from my yard like a Chicken McNugget.  To even the playing field there are things that you should do if you are feeding birds:

1. Place bird feeders within 10 feet of dense shrubs and evergreens that birds can use to hide.
2. Provide cover, such as a brush piles using old Christmas trees and branches.
3. Place bird feeders in places that are hard for hawks to get to, such as under awnings or large baffles.

Being able to see birds of prey up close and personal in one’s own backyard should be considered a privilege.  It is an amazing thing to watch.  You don’t have to wait for the next PBS special to see nature in its truest form.  Just look out your window!


Wild New Jersey