Jay Shelton, a biologist friend, recently reported seeing a
sparrow hawk try to take a small bird near his bird feeder the
other day. The hawk missed, but it was worth watching.

I saw a similar event a few winters ago up in Michigan.

We were watching birds at a feeder when a cardinal flew into the
glass with a thump. It fell back onto the snow. It sat there –
dazed — for less than a second.

Suddenly there was a rush of gray, a flurry of feathers, and the
cardinal was gone, snatched away by a Cooper’s hawk.

The hawk had been waiting in a Norway spruce about 30 feet away.
I went out and took a picture of the evidence of the murder in
the snow.

Winter is the best time to watch for hawks in the South.

Several species move south of the snow line each winter. The
South has easier winter hunting for mice, cotton rats, and other
small prey. Up North, small rodents hide under cover of snow.

As you drive the interstates like I-20, I-16 and I-75, look for
red-tailed hawks and red-shouldered hawks perching on power
poles. Watch the wires for the smaller sparrow hawks.

These and other predatory birds are becoming more common since
the decrease in use of certain pesticides and because of stricter
protection of such birds from illegal shooting.

Hawks are now well-established in some cities and towns. In
Athens and many other cities and even parts of Atlanta you can
see red-tailed hawks, Cooper’s hawks, sparrow hawks and sometimes
others.

Red-tailed hawks now nest on the UGA campus. Two winters ago a
red-tailed hawk took a squirrel from the lawn in front of the
forestry school. A crowd of students gathered to watch it
feed.

Seeing a hawk watching the birds in your wild garden is a treat.
To see one take prey is a rare event.

I think it’s possible to arrange things to make such happenings
more likely. You can make your bird feeder more appealing to
hawks with a few adjustments.

Cooper’s hawks and sharp-shinned hawks are bird hunters called
accipiters. They don’t soar up above looking for prey, as does
the rodent-hunting red-tail and other broad-winged hawks.

Accipiters like a perch that offers concealment — yet one that
has a view of a place where prey may visit at close range.

If you have a dense evergreen near your bird feeder, you might
want to try this: carefully prune some of the foliage away from
some of the branches about 10-20 feet up and 20-50 feet from your
bird feeder.

Accipiter hawks don’t like to fly through a thick screen of
evergreen vegetation. They do like easy access to a place of
concealment from which to watch for nearby prey.

So make it easy for a hawk. If you have no such tree, try
planting one — a red cedar might work.

A red cedar also offers edible berries for certain songbirds if
it’s a male tree. And it has night roosting cover for certain
small birds.

A wild and unkempt garden is more likely to have both prey and
predators than a clean and manicured habitat.

Maybe you don’t want a hawk harassing your seed-eating birds.

Well, a hawk is part of nature — and to some people a hawk adds
a lot of interest to a bird feeder.

Don’t worry that the hawks will eat up all your songbirds.
They’ve been coexisting for a long time.