About the rats that showed up in my yard...

[MineralMan]

A red-shouldered hawk showed up today, and we watched it kill a rat and fly off with it. It's nesting nearby, so it will be back, no doubt. Problem solved.

[SheltieLover]

1. Yaaay! Mother Nature to the rescue!

😁👍

[MineralMan]

2. Yup. They're very efficient, too.

That's their job. It sat on our bird bath, watching the yard, and then swooped down and grabbed it. Right in front of our front window. Yay!

[SheltieLover]

8. Oh, I'll bet

I was driving in rural NC a few yrs ago & saw something large in the road ahead, so I slowed & crept up. It was a gorgeous giant hawk guarding its roadkill as I approached. Had zero fear. Stood over its dinner and squared off to my car as if to say "bring it!" I watched in awe & it eventually grabbed its take & departed, but WOW! 😳😍 Quute an honor to be so up close. 😉

Cool you got to watch it working for you.

To humans who think they are superior to other planetary neighbors: Lay your gun down & try to top that!

[Victor_c3]

3. That's the thing with nature

If you don’t like something, either introduce something that’ll eat it or get rid of what it eats.

We used to have a bunch of snakes around our house (New York state, so nothing poisonous). She wanted me to get rid of them somehow, but with snakes gone, you end up with rats and other vermin.

I’ll take the snakes, or in your case a red shouldered hawk.

[dem4decades]

4. That's why I wish people would never poisen rats and other rodents.

[MineralMan]

7. Yes. I wouldn't poison them.

I've killed three with my pellet pistol, though. Now, I'll let Miss red-shoulders take over. She'll have a brood to feed.

[Mister Ed]

11. Exactly. That's how my wife's beloved Great Horned Owl met its demise.

She loved to hear it hoot in the stand of trees behind our house. But one day she found it sprawled on the lawn, dead. The next door neighbors figured it must've eaten one of the housemice they poisoned.

[Celerity]

19. aww, damn, that really sucks!!

[misanthrope]

26. Ugh, don't like poison

When you poison vermin or pests, you're not just killing one creature. You're putting it into the environment.

[customerserviceguy]

5. Sounds like

your yard has shown the full circle of life!

[MineralMan]

6. Yup.

[2naSalit]

9. A few years back

I lived in a cabin where lots of squirrels from the woods would hang around. While I was moving out I found some baby squirrels outside my door, they were just barely starting to open their eyes. It was a bit puzzling until I realized there was a nest in the eaves which had somehow been destroyed. I wasn't around much since I was deployed to a distant assignment for the season. I was troubled as to what to do with them. I fed them some diluted cream with some maple syrup and set them in a lined box on my porch for the night wondering what I would find come morning. I certainly didn't have time or the opportunity to nurse baby squirrels, I was packing up to move and still on a work schedule.

A little later as I lay my head on my pillow to get some rest, I suddenly remembered that there was a red fox who combed the neighborhood for goodies and had a knack for peeing on the edge of my porch... and realized he would eat the baby squirrels. I stopped worrying about them and went to sleep. In the morning, sure enough, there was little spot of fresh pee on the edge of the porch and the little baby squirrels were gone without a trace. Mother nature solved the problem for me.

[ismnotwasm]

10. My now 8 month old puppy found her first dead thing today

It was a squirrel, all the good bits had been eaten. A hawk is the only reasonable explanation even in a greenbelt in the middle of a city.

[Laffy Kat]

16. I bet she wants to roll in it! nt

[ismnotwasm]

20. Oh she did!

She wanted to grab it, but I didn’t let her. I let her get a real good smell time with it though. I figure all those smells are keeping her brain happy

[Laffy Kat]

24. Totally, that kind of stimulation is good for them.

I always let my dogs smell the groceries I bring home. As soon as I walk in they both want to stick their heads in the grocery bags to see what's in there. They never try to grab anything, they just want to know. As soon as they get a good whiff of everything they move on.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

27. My cat is a sniffy cat

He likes to sniff whatever I bring home,than he sniffs me. Othello loves himself some smells.

[Laffy Kat]

29. I love the name! nt

[Drahthaardogs]

12. If you are seeing rats during the day

There are a shit ton of rats around

[MineralMan]

14. Just after sundown.

[Laffy Kat]

13. Yep. Please don't put out rat poison!

[MineralMan]

15. No poison.

[Celerity]

17. great looking bird

[MineralMan]

18. Yes, it is. It paid no attention to me,

as I stood near the window watching. I'm irrelevant if I'm inside, I guess. It's a city hawk.

[Celerity]

21. if you want more avian attention, you could always get into falconry

[I_UndergroundPanther]

28. I always wanted to do falconry

There was a falconer who had three falcons in my old apartment complex,he had three perches on his enclosed balcony. In his house he had it all set up for them. I often helped feed them,and sometimes they'd perch on my arm if I had gauntlets on they loved to play with my mowhawk when I spiked it up.

[Pobeka]

22. Great! Coyotes are good to have around too for rats. n/t

[GulfCoast66]

23. The damn squirrels got so bad last year I could not grow legumes in the garden

They would eat the new sprouts.

But a mating pair of red shouldered hawks have moved in. They are nesting close because I saw one of their fledglings eating a rabbit in the front yard. I did not know he was a fledgling until I stepped up and he flew unstably into a live oak. Which brought out a loud shriek from one of his parents I had not seen on the peak of my roof. I quickly retreated. I’ve been mobbed by a blue jay for getting to close to their chicks and those suckers can draw blood. Wanted no part of a pissed off hawk.

Anyway, the squirrels are getting thin on the ground.

[Doreen]

25. Natural pest control.

Remember to not leave Chihuahuas out by themselves.