Nature’s Course
I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “let nature take its course”. We often use the lesson taught by this phrase to educate and comfort a child who has found a baby bird, dead in the nest or has seen, on TV, programs highlighting wild cats stalking, and finally catching, their prey. Nature has a way of ensuring that only the fittest individuals survive so that the species can flourish. Songbird predation also plays a part in this balance of nature.
The birds that visit your yard for feeding or nesting can become prey to many different predators – domestic cats, snakes, raccoons, and hawks. Birds’ nests are often raided by cats, snakes, raccoons and sometimes, other birds like House Sparrows, Crows, Grackles or Blue jays. Adult birds are most often preyed upon by hawks (usually Coopers or Sharp-shinned) and cats (another issue altogether!).
Over the years I have received many calls asking me how to rid a backyard of hawks preying on birds. My usual answer straddles the fence – help protect your songbirds from aerial attacks and let nature takes its course. If you invite wildlife into your yard by providing food and water, it will be difficult to discriminate between prey and predators. You can give the birds at your feeder a fighting chance against hawk attacks by placing feeding stations near dense cover (evergreen shrubs or trees). If a hawk posts itself in your yard waiting for the opportunity to strike, discontinue feeding your birds for a few days. The birds will disperse and the hawk will move on to more productive hunting grounds. Finally, in most cases it is not the healthy birds that fall to predation anyhow, it’s usually the old and the sick. Again, it is nature’s way of preserving the overall fitness of the species – only the strong survive. Hawks serve a purpose in this delicate balance of life and death. Let nature takes its course.