The Battle of the Nests
Every spring we have a little battle that rages back and forth between us and various and sundry mourning doves and robins who feel compelled to build their nests on top of our bedroom’s air conditioner.
They build… we broom the nests down… they build… we destroy … all in a rather maddening cycle for all involved.
This year the cycle has changed with the entry of a third player.
The robins built their nest. We knocked it down. They rebuilt. Then… they disappeared.
Odd, that. Curious, even, as robins are most determined birds when they’ve picked out a nesting site.
The next day a mourning dove moved in. She built her nest. We knocked it down. She built another nest. We knocked it down. She built again…
And then I discovered why the robins had gone.
A hawk, one that I’ve seen many times over the winter, had marked the nesting site. On Saturday afternoon, as I watched, he swooped down and caught the mourning dove as she flew from her newly rebuilt nest to go to our feeder, killing her instantly.
I did feel bad for the mourning dove. At the same time, however, I admit feeling quite a bit of gratitude towards the hawk for rather conclusively cutting short our annual battle of the nests!
From the size of the hawk, the shape of its tail and its head coloration, I’m leaning towards believing this is a male Cooper’s Hawk, but I’m not sure – it might be a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Opinions as to which it is (and why!) are welcome!
Critters, Village Life | JAS | 
May 1, 2008 1:53 am
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By Kris, in New England, May 2, 2008 @ 10:16 am
I think the 2 species are now acknowledged as one. There is so little difference between them that I don’t believe the distinction matters. Gorgeous pic, btw…just magnificent creatures!
We had a pair of Red Shouldered Hawks take up residence in our yard a few years ago. The culled our squirrel population – never a bad thing – but otherwise any evidence they were going after the birds did not exist. Until one lovely sunny Sunday morning. We had a nest full of baby Bluebirds, just days from fledging. We had noted that the adult male hadn’t been around for about a week, and figured the hawks may have been responsible. But the female was busily tending to her brood.
Until that Sunday morning. Sitting on our deck, enjoying a quiet morning coffee when suddenly – swoop! We watched the hawk snatch the female off a branch just as she was about to drop down to feed the babies in the nesting box. I swear that Bluebird didn’t die right away, but screamed as the hawk took her into the woods. It was horrible – The Hubby and I didn’t recover for days.
And now we had the abandoned babies – 5 of them. We connected with a wildlife rehabilitator in our town and actually took the babies from the next box – nest and all – and put them in a box for transport about 5 miles down the road. Amazing experience – I held the box in my lap, and fed them turkey cat food. Yes – the rehab people recommended it. The babies took it readily.
The rehab folks hand-reared the babies for about 6 weeks; one of the 5 died but the rest thrived. They were released on a farm in the northeast part of CT. We would have been there but were on vacation when it was done.
I guess I should blog about this myself – it is a highlight of my life, to save those lovely birds like that.
By Balancing Act, May 5, 2008 @ 8:59 am
I love to see the life come back to our backyard not to mention the excitement from Peyton and Walker as they see squirrels and birds grace us with their presence.
Sorry to hear about the battle but hopefully the issue has been resolved.
By JAS, May 6, 2008 @ 8:12 am
Kris, as of yesterday the Cornell Lab of Ornithology assured me that Cooper’s Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks are separate species – I asked them for an answer based on DNA studies. I’m waiting for a friend’s uber-expert to get back to me, as the expert I rely on is stumped too! The bluebird story is wonderful – we don’t have the habitat for them near our house, so lucky lucky you!
Sarah – birds and squirrels and little boys – a perfect spring combination!