Lockdown

While walking the dog this morning, I caught a glimpse of the barn.  A bird was perched along the ridge of the roof.  That's not unusual.  We often have mourning doves sitting on the ridge, cooing out to the world.  This morning's bird, however, sat quite upright.  Like a raptor.  Bird of prey.

On a normal walk Ulani and I head to the railroad tracks, then loop back past our house and as far as the empty house the other direction.  But today when we got to our driveway I said "that's it, we have to check this out."  Standing at the gate I could see clearly into the yard and sure enough, a hawk sat on top of the barn.  I opened the gate to get closer.  That's when it flew away, and I knew from the stripes on the tail that it was a Cooper's hawk.

We have experience with Cooper's hawks.

So I quickly checked the birds (all fine) and grabbed a piece of my green mesh fencing to block the Dutch door.  I couldn't bring myself to close the hatch door into the back yard.  The forecast today is 95 degrees and you know it will be hotter inside the barn.  Due to the extended time the birds spent inside in June when the other predator was around, their run is full of thick, tall weeds that I hope will effectively camouflage them from intruders outdoors.

Check back tomorrow.  No news is good news!

Update Sunday.  For 36 hours I only counted 11 hens.  Thought one had been taken, but last night when they were roosting I did another inventory and all 12 hens are there!  Phew!