To give your song bird friends a fighting chance against their worst nightmare hawk enemies, try planting flight obstructions around your hanging feeder so a hawk can’t make an easy “swoop thru and snatch” pass but must land at the very least or not attack at all. They DO, after all, have many other “natural” feeding venues. Your feeder is just the easiest pickings. Make the hawks work more for their food, like hitting the English Sparrows, or the Starling or Pigeon flocks a few more times, depending on their size.

Hawks gotta eat too.

Hi Cindy – It’s always helpful to know where you were when identifying birds, but this certainly sounds like an American Kestrel (assuming you’re in North America!). Learn more about them and check the ID here: http://allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_kestrel/id

Thanks for writing with your interesting observations! Red-shouldered Hawks rarely catch a bird while flying, but it is possible. These hawk’s hunting habits are not well studied; they have not been observed to hunt cooperatively, but birds are certainly capable of learning all sorts of new behaviors. Please feel free to let is know if you see this cooperative behavior happening regularly. You can email at cornellbirds@cornell.edu.

Thanks for writing! It is hard to encourage most species of hawks to nest—most don’t like to nest to close to human habitation. You’re best bet is to have tall trees in a patch of woods that is not frequented by humans, though some species like Red-tailed Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk seem to be adapting to more urban and suburban environments. Many hawks will go after squirrel and other small prey like chipmunks, so if you have them around, they are sure to be an added bonus for a hawk looking for a nesting place.

You may also be seeing a pair of Cooper’s Hawk, they look a lot like large Sharp-shinned Hawks. Take a look at our Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk page to learn more.