A frikkin' HAWK just took a drink from my lawn sprinkler, about six feet away from me

Short version:

Directly to my left, in my home office, is the patio door, about a foot away. It leads to the back yard. I have the sprinkler set to not only water the lawn but to wet the walk a bit too as the birds go CRAZY...getting drinks, taking a bath...I have seen them clustered around the hose and sprinkler when it's turned off, like they are trying to figure out how to turn it on. When I step outside they fly into the nearby trees, and when I come back in, they head back down and the peeping and chirping is unlike anything you've heard before...

...so ten minutes ago, I'm sitting here working on the computer, and turn my head to the left, and there is a medium-sized HAWK getting a drink just a few feet away. The hawk knows I'm here, sees me, doesn't care, finishes his drink and flies off.

At least I know I won't have a rodent problem in my yard, eh?

:toast:

I've been that close to red-tailed hawks myself, they are beautiful birds.

And they like getting a cold drink from your sprinkler too.

variety of hawks here in Ohio. On a cloudy day they seem to perch on power lines. There are very small ones clear up to the large Red Tailed. They have taken birds right off my mother's bird feeder!

I found bear poop in my yard last week.

:wow: you know what they say about bear poop don't you.

Is your camera ready for the next time it happens? If the hawk drank your water and was totally unafraid, it'll probably be back.

...but when this happened, I'd already taken it to the other room for recharching.

I hope you're right...it would be one cool photo.

:toast:

just flew off with one! Right in front of me. :cry:

It missed the mockingbird, caught the sparrow and I've found several piles of feathers under my pecan tree where it has taken collared dove.

...when I lived in a previous home, I fed birds using various feeders. The ones that weren't "squirrel-proof" got chewed to pieces by squirrels. They'd gnaw at the round openings (feeing areas) so that they could jam their whole mouth in there. I've seen them upside down, wrapped around the feeder. The birds weren't attracted to the "squirrel-proof" feeders I tried.

So in this house, I place the bird seed directly on the ground at the base of a small tree. I gave up on the squirrels...they're happy, what the hell. It also makes feeding easier for mourning doves. In the old place, they'd have to wait until the smaller birds made a mess at the feeder and knocked food to the ground. Here, they get first choice. It's 7:10 AM right now and there are four mourning doves out there, getting while the getting is good.

land on top a tree in our camping area. It was beautiful. Looked like this:



My 5 year old daughter was so excited when it flew away because she could see the hawk's huge wings. The hawk even left a feather behind for us. :)