Mobbed

 

 

My wife, grand-daughter and I were sitting on the front porch when we began to hear a large group of great-tailed grackles mobbing something.  Out of nowhere a copper's hawk dropped out of the sky and landed in the center of the road.  It laid there in what appeared to me a submissive posture as the grackles paced around it squawking loudly. 

 

 

Why was it being submissive?  This hawk could’ve tore through these “weaponless” tormentors if it wanted to, but decided instead to lie there motionless.  Seconds later it took off with the grackles close behind.

 

 

Hawk vs. Mockingbird

You can always tell when the Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned hawks that hang around our neighborhood are in the area.  Obviously one way of knowing is when you hear their calls or spot them gliding effortlessly overhead, but the fun way of knowing is by observing the behaviors of our yard birds- jays, white-winged doves, mockingbirds, sparrows, cardinals, starlings, grackles.  During the fall and winter large flocks of grackles, doves, red-winged blackbirds and starlings will congregate in the upper story of trees providing easy pickings for a hawk to tear through.  When a hawk is cruising by they burst from their perch all at once creating a sight that will definitely get your attention.  Another way of knowing, especially if one is perched nearby, is the mobbing calls most times by blue jays alerting you that something is amiss.

 There’s a willow tree in my son’s backyard that is part of a thick mass of shrubbery and cane that creates a nice niche for birds to hide, roost, and forage in peace.  But today that peace wouldn’t last for long.  There was a mish mash of birds- grackles, blue jays, starlings, white-winged doves all in this brushy area chattering up a storm when all of a sudden I began hearing a bird screeching as if in distress.  A cry so gruesome that I knew the bird had been snatched by a predator of some sort.  Seconds later every other bird burst like shot from the tree scattering in all directions.  The only sound left behind were the mobbing calls of a single blue jay and the blood-curdling screeches of the captured prey in its final death throes, and then…….an eerie encompassing silence. I walked over and looked up into the willow to see about midways up on a thick willow branch, an adult female sharp-shinned hawk with a lifeless feathered form in her talons. 

Feathers began drifting in the breeze as the hawk began meticulously plucking its prey.  Every now and then she would pause from her plucking to glance back at me as I tried to position myself for a good photograph.  She didn’t seem at all concerned about my presence as she returned to satiating her obvious hunger. 

After getting a few photos of her I crawled through the thick underbrush that skirted the base of the tree and was able to position myself below the branch the hawk was perched. This permitted me the opportunity for photos of the underside of the tail feathers of the prey bird, which I knew would help with its identity.  It was a surreal sight- the tail bobbing up and down with each tug of the hawk’s hooked beak.  At that moment I felt sympathy for the bird it had captured, but at the same time I was amazed at the power and grace of the accipiter as it fed.

I lay there quietly beneath the raptor as feathers continued to rain down around me.  I collecting several of them that I knew would also aid with identification. 

I eventually left the hawk to its feeding and returned about two hours later to find it was still perched it the same spot with what remained of its prey in its talons.  It sat quietly looking directly at me, still without a care that I was so close.

I went to a website I came across awhile back produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service called “The Feather Atlas” and laid out all of the feathers I collected and began searching the image database.  It wasn’t long before I came across the answer I was looking for.  What I had collected was several tail feathers and a couple primary wing feathers of a Northern Mockingbird.  The next day I returned to the kill site in hopes of finding more remains, such as the wings or a head, but found nothing.  More than likely she may have taken what was left of the mocker’s carcass to another area to finish.

Other hawk blog posts:  (1)   (2)   (3)

Hawk vs. Snake

I received an email from a friend that contained an amazingstory involving what appears to be a Cooper’s Hawk (1) (2) (3) that isentwined by a Texas rat snake (4) . I’m not sure of the story’s truth that goes with the pictures,but to me it seems entirely plausible. I do not know the author/photographer’s name, but whoever waslucky enough to come across an experience such as this was indeed veryfortunate.

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Comal River (New Braunfels) Texas

"This has to be the weirdest thing that ever floated by me in the river. They were stuck together in death lock, each wanting to kill the other first. My guess is that the falcon snatched up the tasty snake, and it somehow got its tail around the falcons neck, strangling it in midair causing both of them to crash into the Comal River.

They are both alive and well, considering. I think a few more minutes and the snake would have won.

The tail was actually tied in a knot around the neck, and getting tighter by the second. I got the snake untied, and well, as you can see, they both made it.

This is another one of those stories you tell, and are always acknowledged with "yeah, right!" Well, heres the proof.

Neither of them bit me or scratched me, the snake didn't want to stop biting the falcons leg, and only let go after I had untied everything else.

I got the water out of the falcons lungs with birdie inversion technique, and stayed with him until he was almost dried off in the sun, and flying a little. Ball of snake and falcon, that is the weirdest thing I have pulled out of the water so far, it beats the wagon wheel!"

Unusual Cooper's Hawk Behavior

I came across an interesting post by a subscriber on the BIRDCHAT Listserv that spoke of an observation he made of a Cooper’s hawk that had captured a Ring-billed gull and then drowned it by holding it underwater. I’ve read about lots of different bird behavior, but this one came as a surprise. I've seen the outcome of shrike impalement, birds pummeling their quarry against a hard surface, hawks utilizing their tomial tooth to severe spines, but this is the first time I've come across "drowning" as a bird's methodology of dispatching prey. Incidentally, why didn’t the hawk use its tomial tooth instead? I found this rather interesting and decided to look into it further and found that this isn’t the first time this behavior had been observed and documented. Check out the videos I found of a hawk drowning a magpie and one drowning a pigeon in a swimming pool.






Suggested Reading:


1) "Death By Drowning: One Cooper’s Hawk Approach"

2) "Cooper’s Hawk “Drowning” Its Prey"

3) "Unusual Behavior of a Cooper's Hawk"

Purple Martin Notes 2

Yesterday I found the first purple martin eggs of the season nestled in a nest’s bowl. So far I've got nests in 22 of my 32 Supergourds and hopefully each will be filled with eggs in the days to come. I'll know more in about four more days when I check them again. One of the local cooper’s hawks has been busy. I watched the other day as a male grackle mobbed it while it flew away with a nestling in its clutches. Hope they steers clear of my colony…

Remnants

What you're looking at is the bloodied remnants of a dove. Moments before I took this photo I had walked upon an incredible occurrence- one that happens rarely to anyone. I had just returned home from the grocery store and was walking to check the mailbox when I noticed, right before me in my own front yard, a Cooper's hawk resting aggressively upon a lifeless white-winged dove. Naturally I immediately froze where I stood not believing my good fortune. The hawk, not wanting to forsake its lunch, just stood and glared at me, acknowledged my presence, and then went right back to plucking feathers from the stagnant bird. I’ve observed these hawks crash numerous times into the local oaks where vast flocks of these meaty “pigeons” roost. Squirrels are also on the menu as I remember once watching as a Cooper’s swooped down from nowhere and snatched one from the limb of a sweet gum right before my eyes. Most people are oblivious to such happenings, which to me, is a shame. All you have to do is pay attention. Believe it or not I was able to slowly back away while it continued feeding to slip into the house and retrieve my camera. I walked out of the front door to see it still busy, when everything went downhill. For some odd reason our postman decided to deliver our mail earlier than usual which brought about the barking and howls of every neighborhood canine in earshot. That provided the necessary incentive for the feathered predator to grab his meal and finish it elsewhere undisturbed. I stood with mouth agape as it lifted the dove in its talons and disappeared in the distance leaving behind this tuft of feathers as the only evidence- without me getting a single photo to make this entry complete.

Witnessing the raw nature of an “animal kill” such as this, may seem gruesome to some, but in my mind it portrays the predator’s skill at finding, observing, and studying its prey, and knowing the precise moment to make its move for the capture, takedown, and kill, all of which is necessary in order for it to survive for one more day. To the naturalist, experiences such as this are indeed rare and indeed cherished. Even without a photo…….

Purple Martin Colony Notes 2010

May, 10 2010

On or around the first of May I was outdoors and began hearing the mobbing calls of several species of birds. Looking towards my martin colony I spotted two Cooper’s hawks flying overhead, one with a bird in its talons. These are probably the same two hawks that have frequented this residential area for many years. Several male grackles, a blue jay and three purple martins banded together to mob the hawks, eventually driving them away. All this happened so quickly I was unable to identify the unfortunate bird that had been captured. It very well could’ve been a purple martin since it occurred over my colony. Moments before the incident I recall hearing their song overhead. It’s sad and not something a purple martin landlord wants to witness, but I guess everything’s gotta eat. I remember years ago watching a hawk snatch a European starling on the wing, and what an incredible sight that was. European starlings and English sparrows are not native to this country and both are vicious nest site competitors of purple martins as well as other songbirds. In my opinion (and I’m certain most martin landlords will agree) they can eat all of the European starlings and English sparrows they want. I normally do a nest check every 5-7 days, but I was busy and allowed 7 extra days to go by before checking again. On April 27th I had only 4 eggs and today I had a total of 81 eggs counted in 21 gourds. This confirms that so far I have 21 pair of purple martins, which is about average for my site. There are seven other gourds though that have nests in them, but no eggs, and I hope at least some of these will have eggs the next time I check.

A friend of mine recently established his own martin colony after several years of disappointment. It got to the point that he was about to give up, but I encouraged him to keep trying. It eventually paid off and he now has an established colony consisting of two pair. The only thing is he’s reluctant to manage it. He’s afraid that if he so much as talks near his housing they will leave and never return. This, of course, is totally untrue.

One of the main responsibilities is the conducting of weekly nest checks in order to prevent this. Purple martins will abandon a nest or entire colony if the wrong situations occur. These are listed the PMCA’s (Purple Martin Conservation Association) article entitled “Twelve Reasons Why People Lose Their Purple Martins”.

May 18, 2010


Today’s nest check presented not only an increase in egg numbers (94 eggs), but also 9 brand new nestlings.


I always tap on the pole that supports my gourd racks before I lower them just to let any incubating adults inside know that I’m present. No sense in surprising them. They’ll exit the gourds and along with the adults that were perched on the racks will fly to a nearby sweet gum tree or to a perch that I provide where they watch and wait for me to finish my landlord duties.

Today one lone female decided that she wasn’t going to leave her eggs. She eventually left the gourd, which enabled me to count her five glistening eggs.

By the way, the reason the egg’s shell begins to “shine” is due to the rotation of the eggs by the adults as they’re incubated so that they are warmed evenly. The eggs rub against the nesting material (leaves, pine straw, and small twigs) as they’re turned polishing them.

Feathered Collision

Soccer balls slamming against the windows of the cafeteria at the elementary school where my wife teaches is pretty much an every day occurence. To their surprise the bang they heard the other day didn't originate from an errant ball.


According to David Malakoff in an article in the March 2004 issue of Audubon, "window strikes kill between 100 million and 1 billion birds in North America each year......" One theory states that this happens because birds see their reflections in the glass and think they're seeing another bird and being territorial tries to attack it.


While everyone else in the cafeteria refused to approach the injured juvenile Cooper's hawk my wife (the "cajun") was the first and only one to go to its aid. It's injuries must've been severe because by the time I arrived it had expired.


Rather than allow this beautiful creature to go to waste, I was able to find an ornithologist from a local university through acquaintences of mine to legally take it for study.

One other tidbit of information should be noted. Several custodians that were present kept commenting on the fact that even though the bird had just died there were already flies being attracted to its carcass. At first I disreguarded this due to the “tunnel vision” I was exhibiting over my excitement of seeing a hawk so close up.

Eventually I began to look at the flies and noticed that they were rather odd looking. Unlike the usual house, blue or green bottle fly they had a flat looking appearance. I captured two in a vial and later found these to be louse flies. These ectoparasites feed on the blood of pigeons and doves, which are prey items of hawks. When feeding on these birds the flies jump onto the hawks and began feeding on them. Their flat profile along with specialized claws allow them to scurry easily through the plumage of birds.