Parrots Are Prey For Many Wild Species Of Animals
I live in Colorado Springs, near a creek bed with lots of hiking and biking trails and I've encountered problems with wild predators & pets several times. It's a beautiful area, which is why I live here, but we have quite a few hawks, foxes, coyotes and other wild-life in the area so I really have to keep an extra cautious eye on my pets. I've become concerned about hawks attacking parrots.
The other day, I was out on the east side of town, away from wide open spaces like our creek and I saw a smaller hawk miss capturing a much large crow by the barbs of its feathers. It was less than 100 ft from me. I could literally see the birds eyes and body posture. I never realized that hawks will actually attack something larger than itself. As a precaution, I only take my parrots outside in an enclosed carrier.
I suppose every area has it's pros & cons. When I lived in Kansas, mosquito's were not only a nuisance but a threat to my birds and chihuahua's.
What Your Bird See's Outside The Window May Cause Anxiety
There is a huge beautiful Colorado Red-Tailed Hawk that perches in my next door neighbors huge tree from fall through spring. It flies in at dusk and takes off at dawn. I see this bird peering down at my my chihuahua's every time I let them out. It's kind of freaky because this hawk probably has a 5 foot wing span with extremely strong talons.
I've taken precautions of going outside with the chihuahua's and scurrying them over to a smaller area of the yard. Or, I take them out to the front yard out of the hawks eyesight. But, after witnessing a small hawk going after a large crow the other day, I'm now wondering if I need to potty train the chihuahua's indoors.
Any way, I digress. You can see this very large hawk from our living room sliding glass door. I've not seen him up close, and since he is only visible at dusk and dawn, its nearly impossible to see him through my binoculars. I imagine the hawk is more than twice the size of Peachy, my Moluccan. I'll bet, if I were to take my colorful parrots outside several nearby hawks would take note. I read somewhere, that when I'm out walking my dogs, several hawks are aware of their every move.
Last year, Smokey was out on his stand that I had perched in front of the sliding door and when the hawk flew in - he freaked out! After seeing this video about how hawks and falcons can navigate through small spaces, though, I'm going to be extra cautious this fall!
Let us know on Facebook what you do to protect your parrots and other small pets from wild predators?
