Neighbors say hawk is menacing Maple Grove neighborhood

MAPLE GROVE, Minn. — A Maple Grove woman was recently attacked by a hawk and she's not the raptor's only victim.

The animal has become a menace in a Maple Grove neighborhood.

"I didn't even hear him. They are so, so quiet, which they have to be," said Abbie Elrod.

Elrod's neighborhood on Polaris Lane has always been peaceful and laid-back. But that was before a broad-winged hawk moved in and the dive-bombing began.

"And it just felt like a huge pressure right on my head," said Elrod. "It just kind of felt like a bruise and so I was like, 'OK mom look, does it look like a bruise?' She said, 'No, it's landing tracks. He got you.'"

The attack happened while she was setting up for a garage sale. The hawk left talon marks in Elrod's scalp. It also went after her dad and flew off with his hat.

Raptor experts said hawks prefer larger, older trees for their nests and once their young have hatched, all bets are off.

Broad-winged hawks are native to South America and call Minnesota home for a few months, while they raise their young. Experts said attacks like these are becoming more common as urban sprawl forces the birds to live closer to humans.

"It's definitely the most excitement we've had in a long time," said Jade Forrester.

Like Elrod and other neighbors, Forrester said she and her son have also been ambushed.

"I kid you not you guys this is like the most powerful gust of wind. It's like a fan on you. And you don't know where it's coming from," said Forrester. "You can hear him, it's as clear as day. That noise, that screech that he does."

The hawks will act like that until their young are ready to fly, then the whole family will leave. In the meantime, owl decoys have proven to be an effective dive-bombing deterrent.

"It does work. It's a cheap, very easy solution. Keep moving them around, don't keep them in one spot and they hate it. It's like magic," said Elrod.

Experts at the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center said the animals will eat rodents and small amphibians and don't typically kill small pets. While easier said than done, they say the best thing you can do is invest in owl decoys and wait the birds out.