Chicken Hawk Attack!

This morning I was upstairs in the house when I heard the guineas screaming.  They always scream, no big deal.  If the wind blows a leaf up off the ground near them, they scream.  If we move suddenly around them, they scream.  I hardly notice their screams anymore.  They "cry wolf" all the time over nothing.

But this morning, the roosters started screaming, too.  Uh oh.  There's wasn't a scream, but an alert noise.  I've always called it a rooster "horn noise".  It goes "Honk! Honk!" And the roosters' cries were as loud as the guineas' screams. Uh oh!  Emergency!  Our roosters never "cry wolf" when there's not something going down.

Redtail hawk picture from Wikipedia

I came running downstairs and met Randy by the front door. He was in the kitchen and heard the screams and was heading out. We ran outside, heard all the screams from the guineas, but no guineas were in sight!  As we ran towards the noise we saw two huge red-tailed hawks right on top of a group of bushes.  They are commonly called chicken hawks. They both saw us and reluctantly flew away, across the open field.  I did not get any pictures of them.

Here's the Wikipedia page on Red-Tailed hawks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_Hawk


The guineas were all hiding under bushes below where the hawks were, still screaming their guinea screams.  They refused to leave the safety of the bushes.  They were quite upset.  I counted only 7 light colored guineas and the 2 dark ones.  We have 8 and 2, not 7 and 2.  One of the light ones may be missing, or it may have been hiding.  I hope it was just hiding.  The guineas have spent the last few hours after the hawks left near the bushes.  They will not go out in the open now.  Better safe than sorry.  The guineas' feathers were all flat during the attack, they looked so small.   I guess the male guineas don't fight during an attack, their instinct is to hide.  They flatten their feathers to look smaller, I guess.

Immediately after the attack I checked the chickens.  They were totally safe, as their pen now has a roof.  But they don't know they are safe.  The hens were all hiding under bushes in the pen.  The roosters were standing out in the open, feathers fluffed up making them appear huge, ready to attack if a hawk came near.  Roosters are supposed to attract the predator towards them and fight to save the flock, giving their life if they have to, while the hens are supposed to hide.  Good boys.  I love roosters, they are so brave for their flock.  The roosters stopped their "horn" noises when I showed up.  When the hens saw me they all came running to me, forgetting about the possible attack, looking for treats.  The roosters still looked to the air, ready to fight.

Stay safe, guinea flock!