My wife raises chickens, guineas, and ducks to provide locally sourced food, as well as entertainment for our family. (Seriously, kicking back in a lawn-chair and watching these birds can be great fun - they are downright comical!)
This weekend while eating breakfast with the kids I realized we were hearing our largest rooster "Fred" give off his alarm call. I ran to the window and was surprised to see a hawk standing over the body of one of our black chickens - all the other birds were hiding in their coops. We were thinking it was a Cooper's Hawk, maybe on top of one of our small black bantams (miniature chickens).
Grabbing my binoculars to get a closer look, I almost immediately dropped them in excitement. The hawk was a juvenile Northern Goshawk - a rare and mystique-ridden woodland hunter from up North. I could not believe what I was witnessing in my own back yard! I told the kids to stay inside - no chasing off the hawk please! I went and grabbed a video camera to capture some footage.
The "gossie" had killed an adult Australorp hen. Known as Australia's "national breed", they are an excellent dual purpose (meat & eggs) chicken. Australorp hen's weigh about 6.5 pounds at maturity.
It took the raptor 30 minutes to kill, pluck and eat it's meal. Both the hen's breasts were cleaned right off. Afterwards it flew into the woods and perched nearby - perhaps waiting for more chickens? We emerged from our hiding near the house and it took off, effortlessly disappearing into the thick of trees further back.
We were sorry to lose the chicken, but grateful that it had not been to a fox or worse yet - a raccoon. The chickens were spooked. They did not venture out of their coops till 1 PM, and then went back in to hide for most of the rest of the day. They were clearly shaken up by the unexpected visitor!
The footage (no sound) is below - the light was bad, and my scope and tripod was not handy, so the quality is not the greatest. I also took some pictures, which you can find here.
Wonderful video, sorry you had to loose a chicken though! Found you via the list-serv!
Posted by: mon@rch | November 05, 2007 at 09:09 AM
This brings a whole new perspective to the idea of bird-feeding. Awesome!
Posted by: matt sharp | November 05, 2007 at 09:56 AM
Scott
VERY cool! If the gos comes back, let us know and we'll pass the hat for some more chickens...keep the camera rolling! :)
Cheers
David
Posted by: David | November 05, 2007 at 05:41 PM
I had a flock of guineas at the summer camp I work for...they were all but 4 eaten. It makes me wonder what got them. it was the beginning of migration they were out.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Liz | March 09, 2009 at 10:25 PM
I have a nice very close up photo of a Northern Goshawk here http://www.imagekind.com/Showartwork.aspx?IMID=2f342e38-0674-4195-a9c4-d5d39eb5711d
And by the way, the Scottish Clan Fraser is my clan, we might be distantly related!
Posted by: Paul Hood | June 08, 2009 at 12:32 AM