Hawks?

[Suburbanfarmer]

Can a large hawk take a new ND goat? My bucklings are 2 days old (probably 2.5 lbs each). We noticed a large hawk circling over head for awhile today. Should I be concerned? They are with their mama and she is pretty protective of them.
Thanks
-K

 

[ksalvagno]

I believe they can take them when they are that little.

 

[Goatherd]

I had to look up an answer to your question and this is what I found from a falconer/rehabilitator...

The Red Tailed Hawk can carry, for short distances, a maximum weight of 1.75 pounds. This is also unusual as they tend to kill and eat their prey on the spot and rarely carry it away.

The other bird that can carry a maximum weight of 3 pounds is the Great Horned Owl although it rarely flies off with it's prey/kill.

I would thin your kids would be safe especially with a protective mother.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

As a bird watcher and huge hawk fan, I can tell you that they can take after a kid that size, hurt it or kill it, but it is not likely if mom is nearby. Hawks will try to attack things larger than they can fly off with, and I have seen Redtail trying to carry off large rabbits they have killed and then realize they can't (funny to watch actually). But again, with mom nearby, they probably won't unless they are desperate. If you have some firecrackers, you could try to scare it off.

 

[redtailgal]

As a licensed falconer, I trained and hunted with hawks on a regular basis for a while.

My hawks were SPECIFICALLY trained to have stronger than normal upward flight muscles........we did "jump ups" in which they flew from the ground to my fist while I stood on a chair with my fist directly over them. This resulted in them having to do a STRAIGHT UP flight of about 6 -8 feet to develop STRONG flight muscles before they were released into the wild. This means that my birds were pure solid as a rock muscle, the elite athletes of hawks, giving them a great advantage during their initial release time. My "specialty" was redtails.......hence the name "Redtailgal".

They could carry a chicken for a VERY short distance. The could catch and kill a rabbit, but after the struggle of killing that rabbit (think RODEO bullriding), the hawk would be way too tired to carry that rabbit.

The only thing that I ever saw them successfully carry for more than 10 feet was a squirrel, and that was after a slight rest.

Hawks kill by squeezing their prey, much like a constricting snake kills it's prey. Common hawks, such as a Redtail, do not dive bomb their prey leading to a quicker kill, they must, instead, fly down and grab the prey. A smart, well seasoned bird will know to grab the neck, head or chest. Once they grab the talons sink into the flesh and the toes "lock" into place. A hawk in this position cannot let go until the feet relax (similar to the locking jaws on certain breeds of dogs). IF the hawk is fortunate enough to get a talon into a large artery or blood vessel, the prey will quickly die. However, this is rare and most of the time, the hawk must simply hold on until the animal dies of shock or suffocation. During this death process, most of the prey animals will FIGHT, run, jump, and otherwise exhaust the hawk.

What this all means is that by the time the hawk has dead prey in it's talons, that hawk is wore slap out and needs to rest.

I wouldn't worry too much about your goats. Hawks will not usually go after prey that it has not been taught to hunt, unless it is desperate. They are also not likely to take a kill that they cannot carry if that prey is in a group.....eating in the middle of other critters is not safe.

AND, that hawk that you saw circling was probably not thinking about eating your goats anyway. This time of year, there are "updrafts", or small columns of air that blow upward. These updrafts are a hawks playground. I've watched them circle and circle for hours, dipping and diving. Esp with it being this time of year, I think that what you saw was probably one of these "playing" hawks. He was having a good time.

AND Redtails dont generally "circle their prey". It wastes too much valuable energy, esp in cooler weather (this is why they play in updrafts...the upflowing air does the work for them). Hawks tend to find a high vantage point, and watch carefully for movement, then zip right in and grab it.

Dont be surprised if you see this hawk again in the next few days. They will often return to see if the "play ground" is still there.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

I knew I liked you RTG We have so many RTs here and they are so amazing to watch.

 

[redtailgal]

I knew I liked you RTG We have so many RTs here and they are so amazing to watch.

Watching a soaring hawk "play" is one of the most relaxing things that I know of!

 

[BrownSheep]

I would be far more worried about ravens than hawks. We have a pair that live in our trees along with a couple species of owls. The only well document bird predator of lambs at least are ravens. Apparently they'll find a lamb when their mommas aren't looking, pen it and peck it to death.

 

[Bossroo]

Another bird to watch for is the Owl... one early evening, we were having a drink at our next door neighbor's deck, their @10 lb cat was snoozing on the guard rail when a Owl swooped down and carried off that cat. Cat was never to be seen again.

 

[Suburbanfarmer]

Wow! Thanks for all the great info! I won't worry.
-K