An Unwelcome Visitor

 We have a predator in our backyard!

We love our birds and try to keep them coming back year after year. My husband spoils them with different suets and seeds. I try to keep them happy with fresh water. We've had great success encouraging different varieties to our feeders.

We actually have turkeys coming to feed. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. I'm afraid they have become too comfortable on our property. We are not turkey hunters but there are other hunters in our area. Now the turkeys are safe with us but once they leave the yard....they are fair game!

The other morning, while having my morning coffee, I happened to look out the window at just the right time, to spy the biggest hawk I had ever seen. Under the lilac tree, next to the bird feeding station, was a hawk just nestled in like he lived there, just waiting to catch one of our little birds. I have never seen a hawk hide on the ground. I've seen them in trees, of course, but this was new! I understand the hawk has to eat too, but not at our bird feeders. It has been a great fall so far and there are tons of field mice and every other kind of rodent imaginable so there is no excuse for the hawk to wait in prey at our feeders. We've made it too easy for him. I sent our Yellow Lab outside to scare him away and he flew a short distance away into a tree. Our Yellow Lab, Belle, sat there and discouraged the hawk from coming back. The hawk finally gave up and flew away.

I went out to feed the chickens the other night, at six thirty and there he was again. He is really very large. Anyway, Belle was with me and he flew away again. I wish the hawk would eat some of the chipmunk in our yard. We have been overrun with them this year. I find holes in my yard and flower gardens all the time. Also, they just dart about at any given time of the day to the point that the dog doesn't even bother to lift her head anymore. A few years ago I had a chipmunk get into my engine of my car and mess up my steering. That was a story the dealership probably repeated to anyone living outside the city. Their suggestion was to beep my horn whenever I got into the car and that would discourage them from nesting. I tried the horn trick all that summer and fall because they can cause quite a lot of damage.

From our backyard to yours, Don't get me wrong I like hawks and chipmunks but do they all have to like staying with us so much?