Hawk at the Pond

[Shan]

I got a little video of a hawk visiting our pond today.

I bet it has been visiting the last couple of days because the goldfish have been hiding a lot.

Pretty bird, but it can't eat my goldies for lunch--or the pretty goldfinches who visit either.

 

[RobAmy]

Cool, the hawk will not bother your fish at all, but birds most definitly

 

[dieselplower]

Im pretty sure hawks eat fish!

 

[addy1]

I have never seen the hawk go for the fish, now frogs yep, one of their favorite snacks. They sit on the camera and snag the frogs out of the stream ponds. They are not that good at catching birds. Way more failures then success. We have a bunch of them. And falcons they are a little better at getting birds.

 

[RobAmy]

Im pretty sure hawks eat fish!

But it is very very rare, something one really does not need to worry about with a pond, they are not like herons or owls

 

[Shan]

Based on the evidence, I think the hawk was hunting for lunch (this emoticon says "pompuos," but I'm using him like a little detective guy). The hawk was sitting on the waterfall rock, perhaps just bathing. However, he was veering into the pond. And we lost our favorite fish a couple months ago (found holes in her), and hawks are the only birds I see flying over our backyard.

I got garden stakes and placed them around my pond and then raised the netting a bit to help protect the fish. I'll have to take a picture later; it doesn't look that bad.

 

[Mmathis]

What about kites? Are they a threat to pond fish? We have several families (Mississippi kites ) that nest nearby and produce a couple of clutches a year. They're constantly flying around the neighborhood, circling like vultures, LOL!