Sharp-shinned hawks attack songbirds at feeders

While walking out to the woodshed to get some firewood, I heard the high-pitched warning shouts of the House finches and House sparrows. They attempted to escape the blur of an attacking Sharp-shinned hawk, but a finch was not fast enough as a cloud of feathers floated to the ground where the capture was made. The male “sharpie”, with the prey in its talons, landed on a swing and quickly killed it by decapitating it quickly.

The predator quickly ate the victim’s head before taking it to a large spruce tree where it first plucked the hapless bird before eating it, hidden from the marauding Black-billed magpies. Once finished, the speedy hawk, flew in a high circle above the backyard feeders before heading to the Teton river bottoms with its belly full.

Later that day, a female sharpie came hunting but failed to capture a songbird, but a couple of Black-capped chickadees came out of a thicket of copper roses to harass the sharpie. It attempted to capture these teasing little acrobats, but its long tail and bigger wings would not give the predator enough space to get close enough to capture one of them.

The next morning, the male appeared in a heavy fog, captured a House sparrow, plucking it and having breakfast on a dead sagebrush. By the time it was done eating, its feathers were soaked, and it had to dry them off. I photographed it for over an hour while it ran its beak over each tail feather and flight feather on its wings. The bird needed the feathers dry in case it got an opportunity to harvest another meal. Wet feathers are not kind to birds that need to maneuver quickly through brush or chasing an agile bird.

At times, the sharpie would rake its breast feathers with its toes to try to get them dry. As the fog lifted, the predator took off, circled high over the backyard and headed for the river bottoms.

Sharp-shinned hawks are one of the smallest hawks in North America and because of their size, sharpies are limited to what they can capture for food. Females are about one-third larger than the males and can harvest songbirds as large as flickers and doves, while the males rely on songbirds the size of European starlings or smaller.

Sharpies usually hunt from low perches hidden in thick foliage, where they attack feeding birds. The males usually remove a prey’s head and eats it before plucking the rest of the victim and eating it; females usually do not remove the head. They cannot digest feathers so feathers can be found under their feeding stations, making them easy to find.

These smally hawks are known to migrate to moderate climate areas but during the last three winters I have had male sharpies visit my backyard feeders almost daily. With neighbors raising domestic geese, a lot of songbirds visit their feeders as well as mine designed for American goldfinch, chickadees, Pine siskins other seed-eating songbirds. Most of the victims of sharpies that I have documented have been House finches, House sparrows and starlings.

Chickadees love to harass all predatory birds and I have never seen one of them become a victim of a sharpie. It is always fun to watch the smaller birds tease the larger birds while just staying out of reach of them.

If you find a Sharp-shinned hawk killing the songbirds that you do not want killed, the best way is to remove the feeders for a few days, letting most of the songbirds find other sources of food. I find my nyger seed socks do not attract enough songbirds to keep the hawks interested. Chickadees usually have enough sunflower seeds hidden in the bark of the trees to survive for a few days before I put those feeders out for a few days again.

I love the hawks and most songbirds and will continue feeding them as long as large numbers of finches, sparrows and starlings feed with the geese and at my feeders.

Its beginning to look a lot for Christmas; have a great winter season, stay safe and enjoy the winter wonderland that we live in. Let me know if you find odd birds showing up at your feeders.