I'm feeling disturbed. I just had a National Geograpic moment in my back yard.

[MoonchildCA]

I glanced out my window and saw, just a few feet away, a hawk, likely a sharp-shinned hawk, sitting on my fire pit. Wow! Cool! I thought, until I realized it had a beautiful redwing blackbird in its grip!
I know it’s nature. It has to eat.
But these are my redwing blackbirds that I feed everyday.
The poor thing was still alive, and looking around. It really got to me.

[elleng]

1. ;-(

[Karadeniz]

2. I'm sorry... this is why I almost never watch nature shows. Nature is violent.

[MoonchildCA]

4. It really is.

It’s always exciting to get a glimpse of a raptor close up. They are fascinating birds.
But really, I do not want to see them do what they gotta do. I don’t even like to think about it.

[Karadeniz]

5. Maybe we can train them to like vegetables...

[OAITW r.2.0]

3. I feed my friends here in Central Maine.

Morning doves love my place. Except when a falcon does a drive by hit. I've seen a a falcon hit a dove in flight and it's was amazing. Falcons gotta eat!

[LakeArenal]

6. It's a sight that does live in your head for a long time.

Thanks for feeding the birds. 🦜🦉🦅

[MuseRider]

7. I will hurt with you.

Not naive but it always hurts to see that. It is hard to escape in real life but it disturbs me so much that I do not watch nature shows any more. I am sorry you had to see that.

[magicarpet]

8. Was driving out by Auburn Lake,...

This muskrat thing ran out in the road in front of me and I braked to let the animal go by.

About four feet in front of me an American Bald Eagle comes out of nowhere swoops in with its butt skidding across the blacktop, grabs the muskrat with its talons, and flys off into the great blue beyond with the animal in tow.

It was like a drive through take out window quick lunch stop,... and the eagle was off to attend to afternoon business to run other errands.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. At the end of summer I was looking out in my backyard.

A white cat I'd seen in the yard before came in, approached the wall with the trumpet vines, and nailed a hummingbird. I was quite impressed.

My cat, who came to me from the shelter and who had been a stray, was totally pissed she was not the one who got the hummingbird.

[brush]

10. I had something similar happen in my backyard. After the hawk was done...

all that was left was a few feathers and a piece of gristle.

[MoonchildCA]

12. There are drips of bright red blood on my fire pit cover.

Ugh!

[dweller]

11. I was on the phone one day

looking out the window, and watched a hawk land on a low limb in the near woods
Finished the call and thought ‘this is what I have a vidcam for... so snuck out the front and around and started filming it from around the deck as a blind ... it called out once, was answered and moments later a second hawk flew in,
mounted the first hawk, did the feathery deed, and flew away.... I was wide eyed and jaw slacked at having it on film ...
Nature at her finest

✌🏻

[MoonchildCA]

14. I actually did snap a couple of morbid photos.

Then I snuck outside, spooked it, and caught it on video flying up to the telephone wire.
I was hoping it would drop the poor creature when I startled it, but nope.
After I saw all the drops of blood it left behind, it was probably just as well. He wouldn’t have survived.

It would not have been as bad if he had not still been alive. I just hope he didn’t suffer too long.

[markie]

13. harsh realities

I love my place, being able to have bees and chickens and a large garden... but I also struggle with foxes, bears, raccoons, ermine (mink) and lots of insects that eat my plants...

I have a love/hate relationship with all of them

[Grasswire2]

15. I have had a Cooper's hawk here recently.

Just a-sitting in the lilac bush (where the other birdies gather)

I decided the other day to discourage the hawk by making myself present when I see it.

Can't they eat mice? And not birdies?

[SheltieLover]

16. So sorry to hear

[Baitball Blogger]

17. I hate that part.

There was a time when birds and rabbits flocked to my house because I kept the feeders full. And then one day, I walked out to fill the feeder and saw a red shoulder hawk above, watching me from a tree.

My brain made the connection and i said under my breath, "I feed them. You eat them."

I don't provide regular feedings any more. Just grow the kind of plants that will attract the good wildlife.

[MoonchildCA]

18. My feeders are well protected under a canopy of large oak and pine trees.

This one was likely nabbed off the phone lines next door where they often hang out in the afternoon.

I’m of the mind that feeding them helps with their overall survival. We have infringed on so much of their natural habitat. I also provide water. We are in a severe drought, our seasonal river below my house is bone dry this year.

I’m sure if I had a hawk that regularly hunted at my feeder, I would rethink the situation though.

[Baitball Blogger]

19. I do have a hawk that uses my property and the area behind my property as a hunting ground.

But he comes and goes. Lots of beautiful bird song when he's not around. And deathly silence or warning cries from the squirrels and birds if he is. I think there is a name for it when rabbits, squirrels and birds co-habitate and rely on each other's defense traits to take a moment to relax and forage in the open.

One thing I've noticed is that, as the hawk population increased, they targeted the baby Jays. It's like they hone in on the competition.