You don’t have to watch the Discovery Channel to see nature in action. Jade sent us pictures of a hawk that attacked and ate a pigeon in her neighbor’s backyard on Friday.
In the residential backyard of one Phinney neighbor, on the 6000 block of Phinney Ave. near the zoo, a hawk caught a pigeon and feasted on it for about 20 minutes before attempting, without success, to fly off with it twice…We think it’s a Cooper’s Hawk, and it’s banded blue on one leg and silver on the other. Fortunately, other neighbors’ backyard chickens were spared. This hawk is welcome to come back and take as many pigeons as it wants.
Has anyone else seen hawks or other birds attacking pigeons around the neighborhood?
Here’s the hawk sitting on the fence.
And if you don’t want to see a more graphic picture of the hawk feasting, don’t click Read More.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Sorensen // Aug 2, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Thursday morning last week (7/29), a seagull did the same on the roof of the house behind Walgreens at 87th & G’wood. The crows were really skwakking about it.
2 ballardmike // Aug 2, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Hawk, you’re my hero!
3 Julie // Aug 2, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Two years ago a Sharp Shinned Hawk had dinner in my yard. One has come back a few times. I have seen one around the Phinney neighborhood center watching the camelias.
4 Coffee:Black // Aug 2, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I saw a American Kestrel (sometimes known as a Sparrow Hawk depending on where you are from, is actually a small species of falcon) being chased through the trees by crows in Lower Woodland Park last Summer. Crows absolutely hate raptors so you will often seen them making a ruckus when they are near. If you go to the Zoo’s raptor show you will see the Crows chase the Peregrine Falcon, Leyla, back and forth when they are having her fly routines.
Also, if you are in downtown Seattle you may notice some wild Peregrines that have taken up residency under some of the bridges and on top of the tall buildings. Pigeons are easy pickings for them and it’s always cool to see them dive if you can catch it, they can dive at a bout 270 mph, sometimes their prey virtually explodes on impact.
5 ruby // Aug 2, 2010 at 3:43 pm
I also live near the zoo on 61st. Last year I had a hawk–sharp shinned, I think–hang out on my fence eyeing the small birds at my neighbor’s feeder. This year robins built a nest outside my kitchen window (plenty of raw material in my messy garden don’t you know). As if they didn’t have enough to do they had a full-time job fending off crows. I witnessed a couple of mid-air battles in my backyard. Then there’s the eagles circling overhead…
6 #6 // Aug 2, 2010 at 5:44 pm
this looks like the one that may have eaten one of the pigeons by my house near 80th – I propose a toast, to all the hungry hawks that may want to dine on ‘le pig-e-one’ – I will pay you money! And no pigeons back to date – muhhahahawk!
kudos to le hawk….
7 Tahomajim // Aug 2, 2010 at 7:51 pm
This spring I saw a bunch of crows dive bombing a bald eagle around Greenlake. The eagle had enough and returned the favor on the crows. The crows were so tired trying to stay alive they barely made it back to Duck Island to rest. I thought they would drown in the lake.
Like pigeons, the crow population has flurished. It’s an unhealthy balance of nature.
8 Danielle // Aug 2, 2010 at 10:57 pm
I had the same thing happen on my fence on Thursday of last week. I live close to 8th and 70th (Ballard side) and there was a hawk sitting on our fence eating some kind of small bird (I don’t think it was a pigeon). I’m squeamish so I didn’t look too closely. When I opened the back door it flew away with whatever it was eating.
A few weeks back I also saw a bald eagle being chased by crows in front of my house. “Wild Kingdom” in Ballard!
9 iheartgreenwood // Aug 3, 2010 at 4:16 pm
I’m surprised no one’s euthanizing the hawk and putting its babies in a zoo, like they did with the grizzly bear in Montana. Hawks will be hawks, bears will be bears, and nature isn’t always pretty.
10 Megan the Vegan // Aug 4, 2010 at 9:22 pm
So terrible.
11 cobaltblue // Aug 6, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Megan, why is this terrible? Hawks are not herbivores.
Leave a Comment