Devastating Loss

[vienneparis]

Hello fellow finchaholics,
I'd like to share the devastating and unusual loss of one of my gouldians. I've been keeping a pair of gouldians in a breeding cage near my outdoor mixed aviary. The male was a beautiful yellow back split to blue and the female a blue back. Both the aviary and the breeding cage are on my back patio. The breeding cage is right outside of the french door of my beedroom. My patio is filled with potted plants and bbq stuff so it has a very lived-in feel to it.

This morning, my husband went out to the patio and noticed a gray hawk sitting on the fence surrounding the pool located next to the patio. The hawk looked like it was gnawing on something. When he approached the hawk, it flew away but left whatever it was eating. He discovered that it was a part of a small bird with yellow feathers. Suspecting that it was my yellow back gouldian, he came over to the breeding cage to investigate. He found the top half of Elrond still in the cage and yellow feathers all over the floor under the cage.

Apparently, the hawk came into my patio, next to my bedroom and somehow grabbed my gouldian through the cage bars. If my husband hadn't seen the hawk with the gouldian body still in its beak, I would never have believed such a story!!! In all my planning, I never even thought of hawks as a possible danger to my birds. Needless to say, I placed the female back into the aviary as soon as I heard what happened to Elrond.

I'm curious if others with outdoor aviaries have encountered similar problems with birds of prey. If so, what precautions have you taken to protect your birds from those predators?

[Sally]

So sorry this has happened to you. I don't have birds outside, but I have read cases where hawks have gotten to the birds outside. Hopefully some of the members with outside aviaries can help with advice.

[KarenB]

Oh, no, I'm so sorry! That is just awful.

Maybe you can get some screening and do a second layer over the top of the first to keep the birds of prey out. Others may have better suggestions. All my birds are also indoors.

[lovezebs]

vienneparis
So, so sorry for your poor little birdie.
My Canary man told me that he had to put another layer of smaller mesh around the outside part of his aviary/ flight. He had problems with crows and magpies grabbing his Canaries. So it does happen and it's just so sad when it does.

~Elana~

[vienneparis]

A smaller mesh screen sounds like a good idea. I'll look into it.

I just didn't think hawks would get so far into my covered patio. Usually my two dogs are enough to scare birds & squirrels away from the patio. Looks like this time my dogs (small Shih-Tzu) got scared by the hawk!

[finchandlovebird]

Heartbreaking

[finchmix22]

vienneparis
What a heartbreaking discovery. I'm so sorry the hawk got your gouldian. I have a friend who lost her cat and another neighbor who lost their chihuahua to hawks! They are dangerous predators! I don't have an outdoor aviary, but some people suggest a double mesh/wire, with the second wire around the outside, that is at least two the three inches away from the first wire. Also, they suggest to not put perches near the wired side of the aviary. Instead, build an indoor divider to hang perches, so predators, whether flighted or climbers, can't get to sleeping or perching finches. I hope you can make the rest of them safe.

[finchmix22]

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=27394
Read the above thread by debbie276 about "Caught on Game Cameras" in which she talks about the predators and her aviary. She uses electric wiring for cats etc. I think the roof is solid, but if you look at her pics, you can see the two by fours have wiring on the inside and outside, which makes the outer wiring serve as a protection for the inside finches.

[Ginene]

vienneparis...so sorry for your loss

[Sam007]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[CHIRP]

I am sorry to hear that story, maybe think about using smaller mesh as a better protection? It is not a nice story at all, I have since I had my pair twice I had cats and once I had a crow, I can tell the instant something is wrong as I know the birds well, the birds straight away go cage centre and look very still, the cats are easy to tell as they look with bent necks upwards to the roof.......

The crow they go cage centre, and not next to the wire, it is strange that the hawk caught your bird unless your mesh hole is that big?

Sorry to hear that.

[Rox]

Oh man, I am so sorry

We have shrikes here that try to take birds through the aviary bars. Even with the smallest size mesh size they can still cause injury through the bars. Best is to move all food dishes etc away from the sides of the cage/aviary, to lessen the chance of birds of prey getting hold of the birds. I resorted to keeping the clear plastic down half way on my aviary's at the end of last summer, as the shrikes kept bombing the cages.

[dutch]

vienneparis....had a hawk stalking my birds for a few days...

I had enough....got out the high pressure hose...knocked it to the ground....never came back

In the same month I had a butcher bird do the same thing....it landed on the aviary and I smashed it with high pressure hose

It also never came back

[monotwine]

So sorry for your loss. That is terrible.

I too would not have believed a hawk would go to such trouble for a little bird in a cage if I had not seen so for myself. I once had young birds is a fairly large cage with bars (typical type bought for breeding). I put them outside to sun a bit while I was having tea outside and saw the hawk attack the cage. I was stunned! How did he even know they were there. Clearly it associated bird cages with an easy meal. They are clearly not stupid.

[vienneparis]

monotwine
I agree with you that hawks are not stupid. They're also pretty brazen to come all the way into a covered patio to grab a bird that's in a cage, especially given that the spacing between the bars of the breeding cage is fairly small. I've lived there for 13 years and never had a hawk, owl, or raven fly into my covered patio before. This hawk must have been pretty hungry. Although I wish that he had looked elsewhere for his dinner!