How do you deter a Peregrine Falcon from attacking birds at a bird feeder / also do they see color?

I somehow doubt its a peregrine falcon at your feeder, more likely a sharp-shinned hawk/cooper's hawk/ merlin as they are relatively more common than the peregrine and are often found raiding bird feeders. You can't do much but remove their own food source for a while which means taking your feeder down, something which you don't want to do as it will cause more problems to the birds using them right now. You have to realize tough they aren't going to kill every bird at your feeders, they just want to eat as well, if that involves a sparrow now and then you should just consider yourself lucky to see such a great bird around your property.





Just so you can take here are pics of the species I mentioned.


Sharp-shinned


http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBir鈥?/a>


cooper's


http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBir鈥?/a>


merlin


http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBir鈥?/a>How do you deter a Peregrine Falcon from attacking birds at a bird feeder / also do they see color?
If it is truly a Peregrine at your feeder, I would think you would be terribly excited to have it! It's not very often that one gets to see a Peregrine, especially at a feeder. Also remember, it's a BIRD feeder, and Peregrines are birds. You're feeding up the food chain, and it's not necessarily a bad thing.





If you seriously do not want raptors at your feeder, I suggest providing more shelter around the feeder for the birds that use it. They will be able to escape to nearby bushes and plants faster than the predator can get them. You can either move the feeder or plant more vegetation in the ground or in pots around the feeder.





All diurnal (day-active) raptors have color vision. Also raptors can see UV, a trait that helps them track prey (mouse urine shows up in UV light).