Predators that take our pets, Raptors, or mammals, which is more effective birds, Coyotes, or Domesticated wild Dogs?

  I watched a Red Tailed Hawk fly in circles with the Turkey Vultures, I thought the Hawk may have been a Vulture that had weird plumage. I also thought it may have been an Osprey, but no it was definitely a Red Tailed Hawk, birds can and do act in strange ways.

This Red Tailed Hawk is an anomaly compared to the
locals around our place, the underside of the
wings look a bit like an Osprey, I have seen
some that resemble Ospreys' even more than this.

They are like a lot of other animals in that being creatures of habit, I have mentioned a few times that while I am in the garden, I rest often, sitting in a chair every day at between 12:30 pm and 2 pm a female Red Tail Hawk, she's a big one, flies in from the east with the wind on her tail directly to the house down the road that burned down six years ago. She circles the house several times, I count three often but that's not the rule, then she will dive down, coming up with something in her talons. She doesn't succeed every day, but success is hers more often than not, what she is catching is at this point beyond me, I suspect mice, rats, and rabbits. I have been blogging for about the past week trying to establish which animals are responsible for going after our domestic pets, cats, and small dogs mainly. Originally the house next to the one still standing, a burned out shell actually, caught fire and ignited the homes on each side. The people in that house had a lot of cats, we counted 30 at one point, they steadily declined. I recall that several years prior to that fire the same house, actually the people in it, started collecting Chihuahua's. (Link to the typical Raptors diet and habits.) There were four of the small dogs for a short while, then I surmise people started dumping them on this stretch of our road, we ended up with 15 living in the trees across the road from the offending house. The small dogs were vicious in a pack, they would chase people walking the road, suddenly flying out of the bushes yapping and growling. Typically the people would stop and tell me to do something with my dogs, I guess they figured they were mine because I was standing there watching. Alas, all good things come to an end, and these guys began to dwindle down, almost as rapidly as the invading force built up. The original Chihuahua was the pet of an older man that lived there with his daughter, even his pet went rogue, all of the small animals eventually were no longer. I felt compassion for the old guy, he may not have been much older than I am, however, most of us have known people that should not have pets, that household was one of them.

They are cute, they can, however, become a big problem in large numbers.

What happened to all of these animals? We have Coyotes, Fox, Bobcats, and other mammalian predators, as well as feathered predators. I'm not at the end of the road trying to figure out which predator is responsible for the most disappearances. I am continuing on this blog with the Red Tailed Hawks, Barn Owls, and Great Horned Owls, all three have very prominent positions in the food chain of our small island, actually I have discovered all feathered predators act the same. (What do Owls eat? Follow this Link for things you can do to find out.)
  Just what makes up the diet of the Red Tailed Hawks, Barn Owls, Ospreys, Cooper Hawks and Great Horned Owls, let us take a look by starting with the direct question, Can a Red Tailed Hawk or Great Horned Owl catch, carry away, and consume my pet dog? They do eat a wide variety of small animals, rabbits, rodents, birds, snakes, even insects, it appears they will consume just about anything. People are concerned if their 5-6 pound pet could possibly be carried off, it seems awfully heavy to be taken airborne. Great Horned Owls and Red Tailed Hawks, as well as other predators, I question if they are really capable of carrying animals that weigh up to 60 pounds in their talons into the sky, my dog weighs that and she is heavy. That is much too heavy, there is a rule of thumb, however, if your pet is about the same size as the raptor, it is then a potential meal for one of the big birds, we're talking a maximum of 15 pounds, an animal smaller is definitely at risk and should be well guarded. In fact, our Cats should not be left to their own resources at any time if they live in predator country. Cats are also responsible for killing millions of birds nationwide every year, close supervision will help save some birds lives, Cats are a double-edged sword. Dogs, even if they have a kevlar suit on or are with a larger dog are not safe, the birds are much too quick for another dog to chase off the attacker, a pack of Coyotes is capable of easily grabbing a full grown Cat or small Dog. The Raptors are not as much of a threat to full grown dogs as they are to Cats, I'm still struggling to find a number of deaths that are caused by the big birds. Even Coopers Hawks have a varied diet, small mammals like rabbits, voles, squirrels, and varmints are all on the dinner list. They eat ducks, pigeons, geese, and fish, (fish are mostly taken by Ospreys,) I'm discovering that all of the Raptors have diets that overlap with one another which explains why they appear to be territorial, I suspect they actually are but seeing two Raptors of different species fighting it out is rare, from my perspective. They eat a lot of insects, in fact, many small Raptors are referred to as Insectivorous, due to the high amount of bugs they consume. one reason their diet is so hard to gauge is that each individual's diet varies greatly from one to another, they like humans have favorite foods.

Barn Owls are to me one of the prettiest Owls, I keep
finding species I have never seen before, and there are
some extremely beautiful Owls.

  Kites, Harriers, Hawks and Eagles, 28 separate species in North America, 238 species worldwide. There is also terminology difference between us in North America and people in Europe, high soaring birds in Europe are called Buzzards including most of the birds we call Hawks. Four species of Eagles, seven species of Falcons, and twenty-two species of Owls reside in North America, that is in addition to the 28 species of Hawks flying around our skies.
  In summarizing this unscientific query on what animal is taking our pets, I can only say there are enough different predators roaming our fields, urban yards, alleyways, and empty spaces to make it difficult if not impossible to tell, in absence of an extensive study. The one study I found is being conducted in Los Angelos, by scientists, has found Urban Coyotes include Cats as only 8% of their diets. It's not to say a Coyote in a State like New Mexico or West Texas consumes any at all, there may be no cats in some of those isolated areas. The Raptors, on the other hand, are much more mobile than the furry grounded hunters. Flight makes the Raptors many times more efficient than animals on the ground. I have to conclude the birds are the primary causes of the disappearances of most of the missing Cats and small Dogs, if for no other reason than there are so many more of them than their ground-based counterparts.
  It was a long way around the barn to get all the cows in finally, and I pretty much ended up where I thought I would, the birds, it's the birds that are most likely taking Cats, both feral and domestic. On the other hand, it appears Coyotes, Fox, Bobcats, and Pumas take most of the domestic small Dogs and feral puppies.
  On a final note, domesticated Dogs like Cats are the cause of problems as well, we've all heard of them killing Chickens, Lambs, and Deer, there is a much more dangerous segment of some of their lives. When Dogs are left to roam they form packs, there can be as few a 2-3 or as many as 12 or often more. They are a big threat to farmers plowing their fields after dark, the Dogs are not afraid of Tractors, unlike Coyotes. In a desolated area a person driving a tractor is well advised to have a 22 rifle with them especially if the tractor cab is open. I have been there and it is not fun, these dogs will come running across a plowed field directly towards the tractor, and act like a pack of Wolves, or Coyotes. I am confident that the pack of Wild Dogs is more than capable of inflicting serious maybe lethal harm to a full grown adult, they may be cuddly and cute at home, but in a pack, they are wild animals.

A typical wild dog pack, they resort to their natural instincts.

  It's very interesting investigating these sorts of natural phenomenon, actually, it's the story of the survival of life on earth. Self-reliance and self-awareness are dominating forces in these predators' lives. It all comes so incredibly natural to wild animals, we as humans are restricted to watching and studying them, my Dad told me many years ago that if we watch and understand the wild animals we will understand our fellow man, he was right, it's saved me a lot of grief by enabling me to figure out people quickly.
 Thank you for reading and sharing my blog, leave a comment on your thoughts about this chain of life, I'm sure I have only scratched the surface, like I said it would take a giant study to ascertain the perpetrators of the early demise of our domesticated friends. Thanks again.
jacquesandkate  EmergencyKitsPlus.com