# Sharp Shinned Hawk flew in for a late lunch



## James (Feb 21, 2018)

Sharp Shinned Hawk, one of the smaller ones in the area, flew in and grabbed a Morning Dove from my feeder. The speed of this bird was amazing.  Dove didn't stand a chance.  Survival of the fittest.


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## Falcon (Feb 21, 2018)

I love  (and feed)  the friendly  birds in my back  yard,  but I'd SHOO  away  one like this killer.

Even the doves that come in for the bird seed are peaceful  and don't  deserve this.

My worst concern is a hawk like this one  COULD  pick up and carry away  my small dog  (Mini  Doberman)

  I know,  I know.  Don't lecture me about  Mother Nature,  Survival of the fittest  etc.


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## James (Feb 21, 2018)

Not at all.  Felt sorry for the Dove.  They mate for life so there's one very lonely Morning Dove out there.  I read that if these Hawks find a smorgasbord they'll keep coming back.  The only way to stop them is to take the Feeders down for a few days so they won't attract the friendly birds which will make this guy go somewhere else.  Took the feeders down tonight.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 21, 2018)

Aww, too bad he took a dove, we have a lot of Mourning Doves in my area, and I love to listen to them and watch them.  We have a lot of Red Tailed Hawks too, this is a shot of one in my back yard.  Most I ever witnessed was one flying away from my spruce tree with a snake in his mouth (or claws), so I didn't feel too bad about that.


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## James (Feb 21, 2018)

Yeah snakes are fair game .  Beautiful shot btw.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 21, 2018)

Thanks James, I agree snakes are fair game, especially the ones hanging out in the trees! layful:


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## Gary O' (Feb 21, 2018)

Love all hawks

Great pics

Sorry about the dove


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## AZ Jim (Feb 21, 2018)

I feed mourning doves as well as Eurasian collared and white wing doves, not to mention an army of wrens, quail and assorted others.  Luckily (for them) no hawks hang around here.


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## AZ Jim (Feb 21, 2018)

Dupe please delete.


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## Gary O' (Feb 21, 2018)

AZ Jim said:


> I feed mourning doves as well as Eurasian collared and white wing doves, not to mention an army of wrens, quail and assorted others.  Luckily (for them) no hawks hang around here.



When we had a place in town we’d sit on the front porch of a Sunday summer morn
Read the paper
Sip coffee
Feed the sparrows
They’d all gather, tweet, peck at the scattered seed

We looked forward to those Sunday morns

Until, chatting, gazing at the pastoral site, a hawk swooped down from a big fir tree, grabbed a baby sparrow, and flapped away.
We starred at each other’s gapping mouths while hearing little peeps grow more faint in the distance

Rather startling, sudden


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## tortiecat (Feb 22, 2018)

Many years ago watched a hawk take a dove and then a crow came and took
the dove from the hawk.  Quite a fight.
Had to bring feeders in for awhile when hawk started to go for the American
goldfinches, that was too much for me to watch.


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## hollydolly (Feb 22, 2018)

We have a large garden with large collared doves, wood pigeons, sparrows, starlings ,  robins and blue and Gold finches, Blackbirds , Wrens and more, they are all smallish except the Doves ...and the damn hawks or  sometimes the Red  Kites..will hover in the hope of grabbing one of the doves.... The birds know when they're above because they all go silent in the trees.. but one day I just drove up to my house and one of those murdering hawks had got hold of a Collared Dove and was ripping it apart, ( I know it's nature) but the Dove which was almost as big as the Hawk was putting up a tremendous fight while other doves were screeching around trying to get the Hawk off it... to no avail of course.

 I jumped out of the car, and ran at the Hawk, the Dove was still alive but there would have been no hope for it.. but the Hawk just flew off with the struggling Dove in it's claws.. *ugh* I hate hawks...


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## SifuPhil (Feb 22, 2018)

True, it's brutal, but it IS nature. Just part of the chain. 

... sort of like when there's a hostile takeover in the business world ...


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## Keesha (Apr 4, 2018)

We live in the country that’s surrounded by forest and we often feed the birds. We get an assortment of finches, sparrows, woodpeckers, nut hatches, chickadees, cardinals , blue jays , mourning doves, evening & red breasted grosbeaks etc.
Sharp shinned hawks are probably these birds biggest predator and they scoop down and snag them from time to time. It happens. I’m such a suck that I’ll never get used to it. 

In fact, when it first happened , I called ‘environmental protective services’ complaining about it and wondered how he could tell I had just moved to the country. :getit:

I know. :grin:


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