Hi all,

 

I came home this morning and as I walked past the window I noticed a large bird sitting outside the aviary. I'm pretty certain it was a Swamp Harrier and it was really beautiful, but being rather protective of my birds I chased it away swiftly. I then checked all the birds to make sure they were alright and to my dismay saw that one of my favourite boys, Houdini, had what appeared to be a gash in his chest. I took him to the vet and upon closer inspection the injury was not nearly as big as I thought. He was given an anti-inflamatory injection and a course of antibiotics and I have high hopes that he will be fine.

 

My question is: how should I best discourage the harrier from coming back? I would hate to hurt it (it was such a beautiful bird!!) and it lives in the area so I only want to discourage it. I was thinking of putting an offset layer of wire mesh on the outside so that there is a gap between the wire it can get to and the wire the budgies and weeros like to (however stupidly) cling to, is this a good option.

 

Any suggestions welcome because I would love to avoid any further casualties! A similar thing has happened (several times) to my Aunt's budgies, except instead of a small gash, the Hawk actually caught her budgie and tried to pull it through. Having seen these awful deaths I am glad Houdini managed to live up to his name at least in part!

We had a problem with a hawk so my hubby gave him steak. Against the odds he moved on.

 

You could also try wrapping your aviary in a dark coloured shade cloth.

Funny thing............we also have a hawk at our birds tonight ....just kept coming back and is afraid of nothing. I looked up the pictures for your swamp harrier and its the same bird we have a problem with too

We have been told to use the mesh they wrap fruit trees in to cover your aviaries...its large and cheap.

Edited August 28, 201113 yr by **KAZ**

i get a gosh hawk here every well this time of year

best thing is double wire and strawberry netting leaning on a diagonal from roof to ground

if it gets cought you just need rig fishery and wild life they come remove them

Edited August 28, 201113 yr by GenericBlue

Fabulous, I will get onto putting some mesh up, at least that way if it does come back my birds will all be safe! I've never understood why they insist on sleeping and clinging to the front of the wire, especially after several were got by cats that way, but they will insist on doing it

I have hawks here everyday as they live nearby. I use the white bird netting its cheap but doesnt give the best look. Ive only lost 2 birds and both times because the mesh was not on that day. Had what i think was a rehabilitated goshawk here a while back you could get real close to it. It also was trying toget my birds after dark!!

 

Had an owl here for a few dAys a couple weeks back that attacked my birds(again netting was not fully covering.) i baited the *** out of the mice and havent seen it since so it must of moved on

 

Sunshine how high are your perches? Ive found low ones make them go perch on the wire more

Edited August 29, 201113 yr by Ratemymate

The hawk we had in our yard took a neighbours chicken last night too

We have rotten Goshawks and peregrine-falcons hanging around and they are deadly, more so when they work in twos, Greg has racing pigeons and it is horriable when you one of those hawks attack them in the sky. last week we had 2 Wedgetail eagles hanging around.

The hawks haven't really bothered the budgies but we have magpies nesting in a tree in the next doors back yard and they chance the hawks away, they are worth having around. We also have sparrow hawks but they are not deadly.

 

Peregrine falcon

Edited August 29, 201113 yr by splat

We have multiple Boobook Owls around. They nest nearby and in summer you can hear them all calling to each other. 2 have multiplied to what i think was at least 5 last season. Saw one the other evening but we usually close up the budgies at night and when we don't it's usually only the stupid young birds that have not worked out not to roost on the wire, that get got.

 

The hawks, goshawks and harriers are more of a problem. Think I'll try the steak idea next time they are a problem!

I have hawks here everyday as they live nearby. I use the white bird netting its cheap but doesnt give the best look. Ive only lost 2 birds and both times because the mesh was not on that day. Had what i think was a rehabilitated goshawk here a while back you could get real close to it. It also was trying toget my birds after dark!!

Had an owl here for a few dAys a couple weeks back that attacked my birds(again netting was not fully covering.) i baited the *** out of the mice and havent seen it since so it must of moved on

 

Sunshine how high are your perches? Ive found low ones make them go perch on the wire more

 

Are you by any chance down the Kelmscott/Armadale way? We've had one too - it always hangs around, even at night time. My neighbour used to feed one after it landed in his backyard skinny and dehydrated. Now it's just a pest hanging around everyone's aviaries, except mine now as I have shade cloth around it.

If I fed one steak I think I would be worried it would come back for more. You know an easy meal.

We have the Boobook owl here, we see and here them nearly every night but they don't seem to bother the birds.

If I fed one steak I think I would be worried it would come back for more. You know an easy meal.

 

Well if they are already hanging around and making a pest of themselves, they've probably worked out that the easy meal comes from your budgies! Maybe the steak diversion is a good plan anyway - you know fill it up so that the budgies don't look so interesting.

The hawks are the problem here but no with the budgies, I have never seen them bother the budgies at all, but the roof is all enclosed maybe that makes a difference, but the hawks get the pigeons but then the magpies chase the hawks off. The minor birds let us know there is a hawk around and then the next thing you know there is a magpie swooping at the hawk.

Go the pies lol.

The owls are up in the big gum tree down the back. You can hear them bo bo booing through the night and even in the day.

simple if you can get a slingshot get one get some of thes kids paint ball bulets and have at it

or by those kids paint ball guns and giv em all youve got

the paint balls are good cause you can see it its the same bird coming back

we did that with my friends birds we camped out and got all the ones that come in the night

Edited August 30, 201113 yr by dillster

simple if you can get a slingshot get one get some of thes kids paint ball bulets and have at it

or by those kids paint ball guns and giv em all youve got

the paint balls are good cause you can see it its the same bird coming back

we did that with my friends birds we camped out and got all the ones that come in the night

 

you could kill them like brake rib or wing blind them so on harming them is not really the best thing given most are protected

if thats your answer to solving issues maybe you need to re think keeping birds

 

prevention is better than intervention

dillster

building a safe flying and roosting space is best way

 

 

tieing balloons around works to scare them away

 

Are you by any chance down the Kelmscott/Armadale way? We've had one too - it always hangs around, even at night time. My neighbour used to feed one after it landed in his backyard skinny and dehydrated. Now it's just a pest hanging around everyone's aviaries, except mine now as I have shade cloth around it.

 

Hi Amy no not in that area tho i am in foothills. Had another guy 10 min drive from here having the same prob with a hawk and he thought maybe the same one but im not sure. I tend to see common birds around a bit we have a very big hawk here and the other day i saw 2 big ones so it may of paired up perhaps . 2doors down is a big pine tree and they always up top. We have lots of feral doves so they seem to hunt them a lot, its awesome seeing them take one of them

I know someone a few years ago that put traps out because he was sick of them killing his birds but he was reported by a some one that saw the poor hawk caught in this trap. This person was in huge trouble he was fined a huge amount of money and I think he go off light considering what they can fine you etc.

So trying to trap them or hurt is not a good idea because they are protected. Anyway the are a pain in the back side but also so they are a beautiful bird, they are Raptors and they are only doing what comes naturally.

Edited August 31, 201113 yr by **KAZ**

In my backyard a couple of days ago a crow was plucking a dove and attempting to eat it. i shooed it off but it was at night and when i looked in the morning the dove was gone, i dont know if it was killed and the crow came back for it or it escaped, i see them eyeing my budgies sometimes. I have a water pistol that i squirt cats and other predators with. it works especially well with cats. My cat though he loves the budgies. If another cat goes anywhere near the aviary he cahses it away and same with birds. He also never goes to close to the aviary so as not to scare them.

I have never had an issue with predatory birds. The worse I get is bloody magpies. When I put all the birds in flight cages for aviary cleaning, I need to keep an eye on them or they come and investigate. Some of my breeding birds get a scare as well, as the magpies often fly in and pick any bits of seed that have fallen from the cage, so I need to be tip-top on cleaning.

 

A little off-topic, but thought I would share a quick snap! I was fortunate enough to see a peregrine falcon in the wild, on it's nest. Traveling along the River Murray, there is a nest with 2 chicks. We saw one of the adults fly into the nest with a mouse. Pretty **** picture sorry, but they are pretty rare in the wild I heard Especially since we saw the chicks.

I saw a. Ig peregrine the other week while out shooting pigeons at a business. We had put the pigeons up in the air and they normally circle arond And land but after a few cir cles they took off! Only took me a min to find the falcon as i knew there must of been a bird of prey around. Was A beautiful big bird that hung around for. A short while then moved on. The pigeons cme back pretty quick after it left too.