Wildlife

[Paul Wylie]

Late yesterday afternoon, I was out on the patio, grilling some steaks
when I heard a bunch of bird chatter above me and looked up. A hawk was
flying low (below the top of my house, for certain) and being harrassed by
a bunch of smaller birds (brownish birds about the size of small
crows--don't know what they are).

The hawk continued on into my neighbor's yard and most of the smaller
birds broke off their harrassment attacks and went to perch in trees or on
the roof of another neighbor's house. A few minutes later, I noticed the
hawk and its mate (apparently) were both perched on my neighbor's chimney.
The other birds in my neighborhood were keeping up a very loud vigil. I'm
not sure if they were trying to harrass the hawks from a distance, or
simply warn off any prey approaching the hawks (maybe both), but it was
quite entertaining.

The hawks were unfortunately on top of a house to the west of me, and
this was late in the afternoon, so the sun was behind them. They were
also facing away from me (into the sun), so I didn't bother to get my
camera because all I'd have gotten would have been silhouettes of their
backs. Every now and then, one of them would let out a croak/screech that
was really intense to hear.

A while later, I noticed the hawks were gone, but a new round of extremely
noisy alarm/harrassment chatter started up in the trees behind me. Sure
enough, a hawk was gliding in for a landing on that neighbor's chimney,
and once again, the smaller birds were harrassing it. One really brave or
foolhardy bird hovered above the hawk, harrassing it for a good ten
seconds after all its friends had retreated.

Eventually, my steaks were cooked and I went inside to eat. I never did
see the hawks catch or eat anything (I've watched a hawk eat a pigeon
while it and its mate were perched on a neighbor's chimney--that's an
amazing site). I'm guessing the pair I saw last night was the same pair I
saw a few months ago.

Has anybody else ever seen this kind of behavior from smaller birds in the
presence of large predator birds before?

--Paul
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[User]

Post by Paul Wylie
Has anybody else ever seen this kind of behavior from smaller birds in the
presence of large predator birds before?

In Ohio when I used to go visit family back there, we'd go row boating down
some river back there. There was this island that was famous for its ducks,
because they attacked people whenever they were around. They laid eggs and
would swoop and quack and flap wings etc.

My folks have a nest just above their front door here in Az, pigeons from
the looks of it. The mamma and papa flair around and chirp like crazy
anytime anything gets near .... human, dog, bird, whatever.

The chickens we raise in the yard get really upset when someone gets near
their brood. My four year old son has been "beaked" a few times by mamma
hen.