Birds of Prey, can't they stay further away?

[jtbo]

This morning I had Common buzzard sitting on pine tree on my yard, while one of my cats happily sits on open yard just looking the bird.

I start jumping and screaming going straight at the bird and what bird does, just a lazy loop around the yard and sits on tree again, while my cat just sits on yard with expression that is more or less in awe of sudden entertainment provided to him. Finally bird decided to fly away as I was jumping under the tree with stick in my hand like some sort of angry caveman.

I'm not sure if such bird would catch a cat, but at least I don't wish to find out that in first hand!

Has anyone else had such surprises in their mornings?

 

[Willowy]

Buzzards usually can't catch or kill anything, as they have no strength in their beak or talons. They can only eat carrion, and even then they have to wait for a predator to cut the body open. They aren't threats to cats (well, this is true of turkey buzzards here in the US. I don't know how similar the buzzards there are).

Sometimes I hear coyotes at night and worry about the ferals. I can't even tell how far away the coyotes are since the sound travels so far on a still night.

 

[jtbo]

Buzzards usually can't catch or kill anything, as they have no strength in their beak or talons. They can only eat carrion, and even then they have to wait for a predator to cut the body open. They aren't threats to cats (well, this is true of turkey buzzards here in the US. I don't know how similar the buzzards there are).

Sometimes I hear coyotes at night and worry about the ferals. I can't even tell how far away the coyotes are since the sound travels so far on a still night.

I did read from Wikipedia that only Vultures feed on corpses, all other Buzzard species catches what they eat, don't know then if Wikipedia is being funny again, but turkey buzzard is a vulture.

Common sparrow does catch small animals, snakes and such, maybe not size of cat, I at least hope not.

Good thing I don't need to worry about coyotes, but there are all kind of other beasts.

 

[kittypa]

The Wiki entry shows a bird that looks a lot like the red tailed hawks we see here. I would not trust it. How big is the bird and how big is the cat ? That tells you the level of risk. Also if there are lots of other prey for the bird nearby, it probably will not be interested in your kitty. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_buzzard

 

[kittens mom]

We had a lone Turkey Buzzard that sat on a pole watching the chickens. This went on for days. He was obviously engaged in some type of stalking behavior.  I am a lover of the Turkey Buzzard. Standing in a field I have had them come within feet as they do their circling pattern searching the air for the scent of something dead. They will grid a whole field and then move on.

I doubt he presents a real danger to your cat but I believe in the better safe than sorry kind of thinking.

 

[jtbo]

The Wiki entry shows a bird that looks a lot like the red tailed hawks we see here. I would not trust it. How big is the bird and how big is the cat ? That tells you the level of risk. Also if there are lots of other prey for the bird nearby, it probably will not be interested in your kitty. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_buzzard

Smallest of my cats is not much more than 3kg (she is full grown but kind of small with short legs) which is 6.6 pounds, Common buzzard is bigger, but weights only 1kg, so I guess not so much of a threat than what it looks.

 

[Winchester]

We think a hawk took Tabby's litter sister when they first came over the hill to our house years ago. There were supposedly two kittens, but til we got her, she was the one left. We have a lot of hawks and turkey vultures and they're always up circling the fields behind our house, looking for food. I'm glad we got to Tabby when we did. I wouldn't take any kind of risk when it comes to those birds and outdoor cats.

 

[Kat0121]

Here in Florida there are turkey vultures and black vultures all over the place. I think that they are more opportunistic than anything else. They prefer carrion but if they come across something that they think they can handle easily (something small and relatively helpless) they will go for it. I don't think a full sized cat would interest them much unless it was already deceased. 

 

[kittens mom]

 
Here in Florida there are turkey vultures and black vultures all over the place. I think that they are more opportunistic than anything else. They prefer carrion but if they come across something that they think they can handle easily (something small and relatively helpless) they will go for it. I don't think a full sized cat would interest them much unless it was already deceased. 

My husband had a small dog for years, we almost lost her to one of the big crows. Happened right in front of us. Animals do have established hunting behaviors. Any animal that is hungry enough may decide to think outside the box.

 

[Willowy]

Crows are very predatory, though usually not big enough to take anything adult-cat-sized. So are eagles, owls. . .hawks aren't usually big enough to take on a full-grown cat but certainly they'll take kittens. Yeah, I looked up a common buzzard (should have done that first!) and they do appear to be an actual raptor, not a carrion eater, so it could be a threat. They usually don't like to attack a full-grown cat, because cat bites and scratches will kill a bird (bacteria), so if the cat fights back they're in trouble. But if the other prey aren't plentiful they might. It has happened.

Vultures are only carrion eaters and aren't a threat to anything alive, except little rodents/rabbits/lizards/etc.who can go down whole. So maybe young kittens would be at risk.

Maybe you could get some of those shiny strips to put in your trees and around the property. . .they don't like those things flapping in the wind.

 

[jtbo]

Crows are close to same size of Common sparrow here, but this Common sparrow did look tad bigger than Crows I saw day before Common sparrow, on of Crows did fly just 30ft ahead of me when I rode a scooter, had to slow down as it was flying enough low for me to hit it and it was slower than I was, sometimes exceptionally intelligent Crows seem to act bit foolish.

I'm bit puzzled of if bird was Common sparrow, I measured distance between two trees and it came out as 4 meter and despite the fog and sun being behind the bird I could clearly see how spread wings did go to half way from tree to tree as it flew out, that would be close to 2 meter wing span and only bird that is brown and has such shape would be eagle, but behavior was not eagle like and sound was exactly like Common sparrow sound.

Maybe it was just bit bigger individual and maybe trees are closer to each other higher up, so it just appeared bigger.

Anyway I really would prefer big birds staying away. One of my cats likes to stalk that group of magpies though, even I think they look bit big for the cat, he happily chatters and lies low with swinging tail when those try to steal his food. Little one is scared of those too, so I try to scare them off.

Trees are something around 60 feet tall I believe, I haven't measured them, but makes it bit difficult to get up there.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I think the birds to worry about are owls, eagles and hawks.

 

[kittens mom]

I think the birds to worry about are owls, eagles and hawks.

The big crows or ravens here are by far more aggressive than the hawks.

Crows are very predatory, though usually not big enough to take anything adult-cat-sized. So are eagles, owls. . .hawks aren't usually big enough to take on a full-grown cat but certainly they'll take kittens. Yeah, I looked up a common buzzard (should have done that first!) and they do appear to be an actual raptor, not a carrion eater, so it could be a threat. They usually don't like to attack a full-grown cat, because cat bites and scratches will kill a bird (bacteria), so if the cat fights back they're in trouble. But if the other prey aren't plentiful they might. It has happened.

Vultures are only carrion eaters and aren't a threat to anything alive, except little rodents/rabbits/lizards/etc.who can go down whole. So maybe young kittens would be at risk.

Maybe you could get some of those shiny strips to put in your trees and around the property. . .they don't like those things flapping in the wind.

I have never seen crows the size we have here. They were perfectly capable of picking up my husbands 10lb dog if it had gotten it's talons into her. 

 

[Willowy]

I have never seen crows the size we have here. They were perfectly capable of picking up my husbands 10lb dog if it had gotten it's talons into her. 

I did a lot of reasearch into birds of prey because there was a Great Horned owl nest near my house and I worried about the ferals. Ravens and crows don't grab things with their feet like eagles and owls. They might carry something light like sticks for their nest but they don't have powerful talons like other birds of prey. They only carry food with their beaks. They top out around 3 pounds and can only carry about half their body weight. They can, however, really mess up a dog or cat on the ground. . .but can't fly away with them.

Large eagles and owls can carry about 5-6 pounds reliably. A bald eagle was seen dropping a branch that weighed 12 pounds, but obviously she didn't get far . They will kill animals larger than that, though, and eat some or dismember the body until it's small enough to carry. So they are threats to cats and small dogs, although eagles don't usually like being near people so it's unlikely they'd take one near the owner. Owls will sometimes swoop down on a leashed dog though. But, again, they prefer to go for easier prey when available. The owls near my house never bothered the cats. When I found their pellets, it was apparent that their diet was mainly made up of blackbirds.

Hawks are usually under 3 pounds. So they can't take anything over that. They prefer chickens . But will take small kittens if given the chance.