Please Everyone Be Careful of Hawks
 

I was taking Laddy out this evening when I heard a screeching I ran to him and grabbed him up and ran just as a hawk swooped down not 3 ft from where we had been standing!!!! I have never been so terrified. From now on he only goes out on a leash or in his expen. I cannot believe how close I came to losing my baby! I did research on line tonight afterwards and it is the season for them to be out and hunting so please everyone watch over your babies.:(

I have had a couple of close calls with hawks also. Im afraid to let mine outside now since i have 4 and it would be hard to grab all 4 yorkies up that fast. Talk about scarey, is seeing a hawk coming and trying to get all 4 yorkies in the house before it swoops down on them. I think it took ten years off my life haha but thank goodness i got them all inside in time. Yes, please everybody watch your babies because hawks will definitely come after them.

Oh my goodness! Who was screeching? One of the things that especially concerns me about hawks is that I don't believe a yorkie has an innate fear of hawks the way a rabbit or macaw does.

How much does Laddy wegith?

lol at first it was the hawk making that noise that I called screeching then it was me trying to get to my baby first. I can laugh now but I was terrified the hawk would reach him before I could. And you are right Laddy didnt seem at all afraid of the hawk just of his screeching mama. lol Oh and Laddy only weighs 2 and a half pounds.

See, but that's the scary thing. :eek: Our babies don't know how tiny they are, and don't consider themselves potential prey. If they instinctively tracked the skies for hawks, we could breathe easier.

Speaking as someone with a small baby myself, this is partly while I feel that it's not a good idea to breed the little ones. Dogs are meant to be predators, but at a certain size, they turn into prey, and they are not equipped with the instincts to handle that. :(

Exactly! Laddy is only 6 months old so we are hoping he still has some growing in him but he thinks he is superdog. I tell my DH he is a 100 lb dog in a tiny body. It seems like there is always something to worry about. the night before we caught him at the edge of the stairs and it looked like he was thinking of jumping and he was 8 steps up:eek: Now this with the hawk. I swear he is giving me more grey hair than my skin kids did.

Thanks for the warning. I occasionally see a hawk when I have the girls out in the backyard. :( It is scary.

Was it dark out? If it was getting to be dark it might have been an owl. Here's a tip that might help, owls and hawks hate each other and will even prey on each other. Of course owls are prey in the day and hawks are prey for owls at night. Which is why each one finds a place to roost in a protected area during it's sleep time. If you put a statue of an owl in your yard or on your porch or perched on your roof someplace it will help keep hawks away from your yard during the day. You can also perch a hawk statue someplace to help with the owls at night but not very many of us have our yorkies out too much at night so that's up to you. Last week when I was walking Roxie out on the bike path I saw a big Red Tailed Hawk flying around and I picked her up untill he was out of sight. It can be kind of mind boggeling worrying about this stuff. I just remembered that about 2 years ago dh was outside one evening and heard this awful screaming noise and he thought it was out cat. It was an owl coming down on a rabbit (lots of rabbits around our area) and the rabbit was making all the noise. I didn't know a rabbit could make noise like that. I think the owls scare me more because you can't see them and don't know when they might strike. During the day we at least can see a hawk and act fast.

i know we have hawks in our area too but when i look up in the sky i cant tell if they are the hawks or the turkey vultures. they are to high up to see. i dont leave them unattended but i would likre to know if its hawks or vultures im seeing? i cant imagine losing my baby's this way at all. it would break my heart forever.:eek:
signed, daisy23's hubby

Vultures wings bend up more like a V when they fly around and usually you'll see more then one at a time. Hawks fly with wings straight out and like a glider. Plus a vulture will look black and ratty. Hope this helps. My husbands a falconer so I know alot of the different hawks by site after all of these years and I know what a vulture looks like.

Wow that was scary. I have seen a hawk in the tree behind us latley and it scared me I haven't seen one that close before. Thanks for the warning.

It would take a hawk & a few of his buddies to haul Keegans tank-butt off the ground!:D Luv my teapot!:p

That's scary. Glad you got to him first. I worry about this as I see vultures a lot here. We have hawks and wild turkeys too. I think we might have a bald eagle nest somewhere also. My neighbor thought she saw them in a tree. Hubby called one morning as he was leaving to tell me to look out at the neighbors yard, there was an eagle spreading it's wings. This was right in across from my house.

That is horrifying!!! I'm glad he's okay!

O m g ! !
 

That is sooo scary. I have not seen a hawk around my area.. but I do see crows.

cool pics!

Hawks are usually territorial and you don't see them in groups much. DH was saying that there is one kind that he knows of off the top of his head (forget the name) that will only travel in groups if they're migrating. If you see a group of them flying in circles that's usually vultures and they really only eat dead stuff. Just keep your eye on the sky because hawks/falcons can swoop at pretty high speeds depending on the type of hawk/falcon it is.

We have both in our area and it's scary since Izz is so tiny. I always go out with her as much as I can (we have a fenced in yard) but sometimes you forget and just let them out the patio door. So thank you for the reminder now that it's spring and all the birds are out again feeding their mommies to be.

Oh and what cool pics - if you have ever seen an Eagle's nest trust me it's HUGE.:eek: You can't mistake that nest at all.

Thanks!

so scary!:eek:

I'm glad you got to your baby before the hawk did!

I had an incident with an owl - during the day - a few weeks ago, too. Very, very scary. We have hawks, owls, eagle, wild turkeys and who knows what else around here.

It makes me mad cause I always enjoyed having the girls out with me when I worked in my gardens and stuff and now I can't. When I do take them out now, I take an umbrella... LOL - I figure it helps shield them a bit from the raptors and I can always hit the darn bird with it if they do come close enough. :rolleyes:

I glad your baby is ok! What a scary thought! :(

Im so scared about this that I've looked into getting pond netting and putting netting over my whole backyard. My girls LOVE to be outside and love sunbathing so its hard for me. I've even thought about getting a big outdoor pen...its fully fenced on the sides and on top. Ive tried to think of everything i can. Sometimes we'll see just one, sometimes there are up to 4. I try to see if their wings are in a "v" shape but it's hard to tell, i've never had one come close that's why i think its a turkey vulture, but i dont take any chances. these times i wish i had a teapot ;) my girls are 6.5lbs and 3lbs.

I know what you mean about sometimes wishing you had a teapot. Tucker is a little over 5 months, and weighs 3.7lbs. I wrote about friends babysitting him on Saturday. I told them I never have him outside without harness and leash, but they let him run around their back yard without a leash. They even told me they saw the female hawk that hangs around their place. They assumed the hawk wouldn't come near with them out there. I would have had a heart attack if I had known what was happening. They love my little sweetheart, but no more babysitting for them.

Scary!!!
 

Oh my gosh I never knew that a hawk would want to pick up a Yorkie:eek: Thats so scary I couldn't believe it when I was reading it :confused: I'll never take my eyes off her when she's outside now! Thanks for the warning!!

Naomi and Fifi :aimeeyork:animal-pa

So glad your little baby os okay, and your heart is beating again... I'm in Saint Pete Florida and there is one that visit's the backyard about every two day's... very scary :eek:

We have 2 hanging around here now as well. The mornings are the scariest. I can't let her out to run in the backyard like she loves to do........

The other day while chatting with the neighbor, we found out that their is a Sharp-Shinned Hawk that hangs out at our neighbors' back yard. These hawks are regular visitors of bird feeders and apparently the neighbor on the left and back of our house have a bunch of bird feeders in the tree. I think these hawks are smaller, but I won't be taking any chances. Cassi and Ori will always be on a leash!

You not only have to worry about the hawks but also the other predators on the ground. Last night I put Piper out about 10:00PM. in her x-pen. It was drizzling out so I went on the deck to stand under the overhang of the house. I saw movement from the side yard and all of a sudden I noticed there was this huge THING right up against the x-pen nose to nose to Piper (she thinks she has a new friend). I scream it doesn't move and I'm running across the deck right up to the biggest raccoon you can possibly imagine. I'm all ready to attack (with what I don't know) and it turns and looks at me and runs back into the woods. I almost had cardiac arrest. From now on I'm standing right next to Piper's pen with a club.