Many breeds of hawks live and hunt in Santa Barbara County. Cats, small dogs, pet birds (outside in their cages for the day or in aviaries), chickens, other poultry and rabbits may become a meal for these raptors.
Hawks’ primary prey are small rodents, birds, squirrels and small animals (such as rabbits), but hawks may infrequently attack dogs up to 12 pounds in weight and cats.
Cats, due to their size, have a greater risk of becoming dinner for a hungry hawk, according to the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences.
In general, hawks tend to prey on mammals that are one-third or less of their weight.
The red-tailed hawk, found in Santa Barbara County, is one of the most widespread hawks in North America. Their robust build and broad wings enable them to handle heavier prey compared to other species of hawks.
Usually, only juvenile hawks that are still learning to hunt will attempt to prey on larger animals. If a hawk’s prey is too heavy, it will drop the animal.
If a hawk picks up your small dog or cat and drops it in flight, rush your pal to your veterinarian or a pet emergency center.
Animals dropped by hawks may have serious bruising and skin wounds from the hawk’s talons, and head trauma, broken legs and internal injuries from the hard landing.
Here are a few suggestions to protect your cats, dogs and birds from hawk attacks that will not cause harm to hawks.
Even though hawks can be formidable predators, they can also become prey. Hawks’ predators are normally larger birds of prey, including owls.
Owls may also feed on small cats and very small dogs, especially the year-round resident of Santa Barbara County, the great horned owl.
There are 10 species of owls that call Santa Barbara County home, and all of them prey on the same animals as hawks.
So, hawks can be a prey species for owls and compete with owls for food. Thus, hawks do not like owls and avoid areas where owls are.
Life-size, realistic-looking owl decoys sold on Amazon that make random movements and hooting are remarkably effective at scaring away hawks. Even the stationary owl decoys will help if you move them around every few days.
Hawks are smart and observant, and they will realize owl decoys are fake if they remain in the same location in your yard for longer than a week.
Providing shelter or cover for your cats and small dogs is a great way to protect your pals from a hawk attack.
The best shelter for cats is a “catio” and for small dogs a “dogio.” Catios are covered enclosures, typically attached to a house, for cats to be safely outside. The dogios are the same thing, but made for small dogs.
If you cannot make a shelter, there are other things you can do to discourage hawks away from your pets, such as hanging reflective mylar tape or any shiny objects, even CDs.
These shiny objects confuse and startle hawks. Amazon sells nice-looking shiny reflective scare rods that spin in the wind.
Hawk vests are sold on Amazon (similar to the coyote vests described in my previous column) and will protect your dog from a hawk’s talons.
A spike vest is a small dog harness vest that is reflective and has spikes to shield your pet from a hawk attack by making it too painful and awkward for a hawk to grab your dog.
Hawks also avoid scarecrows, although “scarecrow” is a misnomer. They should be called “scare-all-birds.” Hawks and wild birds of all sorts do not usually like the company of humans.
You can also purchase motion-activated sprinklers, wind chimes and noise-making devices to scare off hawks. Just be sure your motion-activated noise making devices do not sound like air horns and scare your neighbors!
Hawks observe their prey from a high vantage point for quite a while. In your yard this may be a fence, ridge of your roof or an out-building.
You can install bird roosting spikes (sold on Amazon) on these perches. These stainless-steel bird spikes are meant to look like a thorny plant to a hawk.
They have bright surfaces that reflect the sunlight. Hawks do not like the reflective light and are not able to get comfortable on the spikes.
They also feel unstable perched on the spike and often do not land on them and, if they do, they quickly move on.
Hawks also prey on wild birds, chickens and other poultry. Bird feeders encourage hawks to prey on feeding birds and the rodents the bird seed attracts.
Cover your outdoor bird feeders as hawks look for their prey from above. They dive down and attack these unaware feeding songbirds.
Birds in aviaries also need protection, as the hawk’s talons can reach inside if the wire has a large gauge and grab a caged bird through the wire mesh with their talons. This is also true of a parrot or any pet bird in a cage left outdoors on a sunny day.
We share our habitat with hawks. They are majestic birds that are a joy to watch soar in the sky.
Hawks are protected under federal and California law. It is illegal to trap or kill them.
They create a healthy balance between the prey and predator population by helping to control the rodent population, including mice and rats. Reducing the population of mice and rats also helps prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases.