drew55•17d ago

Switched from suet feeders to ground feeding after a hawk showed up last spring

Used to have 3 suet cages hanging off my maple tree for years. Loved watching the woodpeckers and nuthatches come through. Then one morning last April I saw a Cooper's hawk nail a chickadee right off the feeder. Clean kill. Felt terrible. Now I just scatter some black oil sunflower seeds on a flat rock near the bushes instead. The smaller birds have way more cover to dart back into. I've seen way fewer hawk attacks since. Anybody else change their setup after losing a bird like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

young.kim17d ago

OH man that's rough to watch. I heard someone say hawks basically learn your feeder schedule like a fast food drive thru.

harper_foster17d ago

nah i gotta disagree, they're not that smart lmao. they're just opportunistic, same as any wild animal figuring out where food is. if you leave a burger out they'll come, that's not "learning your schedule" that's being a pigeon with wings