Cooper's and Sharp-Shinned Hawks: Prey & Behavior

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Evo
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No, they are not the NotAGoshawk. These are either Cooper's or sharp shinned hawks.

I was sitting outside the other evening when a hawk swooped in and landed on a tree branch with a dead dove in his claws. He ate about 1/3 of it and left the rest on the branch, a few minutes later another hawk flew past with a dead dove and tossed it into a nest and left it. There was already at least one other dove in there, I could see the tail feathers. I've been watching and the doves are still there, uneaten.

Yesterday, another hawk swooped in and narrowly missed another dove, so they are still hunting.

Is this normal for hawks to just kill, but not eat their prey? Or will they eventually eat the rotted birds?
 

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Evo said:
Is this normal for hawks to just kill, but not eat their prey? Or will they eventually eat the rotted birds?

What does your heart tell you?
 
Evo said:
There are hardly any doves left. :frown:

One suggestion could be climbing up the tree and adding some flavor to their food such that they would never prey those doves again .. :devil:
 
Evo said:
Thanks Ivan! I guess they are "stocking the pantry" in anticipation of having babies.

There are hardly any doves left. :frown:
I hope the broad-wing family moves back soon. I have an excess of doves and I don't want to have them feeding on my shoots and seeds as gardening time ramps up.
 
rootX said:
One suggestion could be climbing up the tree and adding some flavor to their food such that they would never prey those doves again .. :devil:
If they will eat old meat, would they eat meat (chicken) I put out for them?
 
Evo said:
If they will eat old meat, would they eat meat (chicken) I put out for them?
My wife's uncle put out poultry when a juvi broadwing fell out of its nest. A friend of mine (chief of the Maine Warden service) and I were on our way back from a dump-run when we saw the fledgling in the gravel road. I got out to watch the chick while he went to his place to get some leather gloves (even the little ones are very feisty and can bite HARD). I put the gloves on, pinned the little guy's wings up against his body, and carried it into the woods along a stone wall (we knew where the nest was from prior wanderings), and set the little one down near the wall, with the parents making a hell of a ruckus. We told my wife's uncle what we had done (he like to watch the hawks) and he took raw chicken to that area every day and set it on top of the stone wall. The meat disappeared every day, and eventually, he saw the 3 broad-wings foraging, so we assume that the little one made it, and that the young hawk was not a nest-mate.