With last week’s snow covering the ground, I made sure my birds and backyard friends had plenty of seeds and fresh water. Hundreds of birds and squirrels came to the heated birdbath for a much-needed drink of water and they devoured the seeds I had strewn. While watching one snowy morning, I noted that the squirrels were busy with the sunflower seeds, but there was not a bird in sight. In a tall tree above our shed, I saw him. A hawk. Not long after, before I had a chance to try to shoo him away, the raptor swooped down and picked off one of the returning and unsuspecting birds.
Time for a trip to Southern States and a bag of Critter Feast.
Critter Feast from Southern States is an assortment of bird and critter feed including peanuts, two kinds of sunflower seeds and whole kernel corn. It’s a versatile feed appealing to lots of birds and critters, but I was most interested in the Critter Feast because corn attracts crows and crows keep the hawks at bay. They will dive-bomb and pester hawks until they have had enough and vacate the area.
Not long after I scattered the Critter Feast, the crows arrived. Five of them, and with slim pickings elsewhere, the crows have remained near their food supply and I haven’t seen the hawk return.
Hawks have their place in nature, but that place is not in my back yard. That small piece of real estate is reserved for birds, little birds, my yearlong friends and companions – and the hawks be damned.