Crows Mobbing Hawk

[Shady]

Hear some cawing out in the garden this afternoon: looked up, and saw 2 crows 'seeing off' a hawk. Not the best of pics, because snapped in a hurry, but quite an impressive scene. Hawk flew off ok, but those crows don't take crap from anything...

 

[Shady]

Cor (or caw....) - no interest???

 

[Steve Maskery]

OK SHady, I'll reply

I know zilch about birds, but your photos are good - I don't think I could have got there so quickly, they'd have been long gone.

My only encounter with agressive birds was in Iceland. I have a pocket kite I like to fly, so off I toddled onto the moor or whatever it's called over there, can't remember, and I was mobbed by a pair of arctic terns. Apparently they will peck the top of your head, but only the top, so if you hold an umbrella, or even a stick, above your head they won't actually get to you. But it's a brave man who'll try. They saw me of before I could get my kite out. It was, of course, breeding season and I was threatening their nests.

I had been warned that terns were not the friends type, but I was still surprised.

Cheers
Steve

 

[tim]

We've got 6 pairs of nesting buzzards round us and they get mobbed all the time by damn crows who are just after stealing thier food. What I have seen a couple of times is the blackbird which 'owns' our garden see them off when the eggs are hatching.

Cheers

Tim

 

[dedee]

Shady,
stunning photos.
I watch hawks chasing pigeons form the office window and it is rare that the hawk gets to keep it's hard earned prey.
Magpies can be quite vicious too. Watched a pair harassing a wood pigeon the other day.

Andy

 

[Shady]

I know zilch about birds, but your photos are good - I don't think I could have got there so quickly, they'd have been long gone.

Hah! Should have seen me - sprint into house: find camera: sprint back out, removing lens cap and taking zoom lock off en route: check settings set to 'programmed', metering on 'centre weighted/spot', and attempt to track and focus on 3 birds about 1000 feet above me...

There's an acknowledged phenomenon amongst wildlife photographers - all you get is 'bums'. I have more shots from my trip to Africa of the backsides of assorted fauna turning away from me than of anything else... :roll:

The fun's in the trying though - and it's better than shooting them with a rifle...

 

[Alf]

Excellent pics, Shady. I saw the resident blackbird following one of the local magpies the other day - everywhere it went, there was the blackbird sounding his warning. Talk about "me and my shadow" :lol:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Richard in Smithville]

Great pictures. We have the annual hawk watch near us every spring and often I watch the hawks catching the updrafts around the town during the summer. And yes, there is usually the odd small bird hot on the hawks tail. Guess it's better to be behind the hawk than in front.

 

[tim]

I saw the resident blackbird following one of the local magpies the other day -everywhere it went, there was the blackbird sounding his warning. Talk about "me and my shadow"

So its not just ours that does that then. We reckon our blackbird is actually related to Penguin in the Wallace and Gromit film.:shock:

Cheers

Tim

 

[Paul Chapman]

Cracking pictures, Shady =D>

Paul

 

[Rob_H]

Good action photos - where we used to live in Somerset, we used to sit on the river bank on an evening and it was quite common to see swallows dive bombing birds of prey. It was like watching a scene from the Battle of Britain with some very impressive aerial dogfighting - the swallows always won.

 

[RogerS]

Fabulous picutres, Shady.

We're surrounded by buzzards like yours and they frequently get attacked by the crows, as Tim says because the buzzard is after the young..

I'd never thought to even TRY to take a picture let alone get the cracking ones that you have!

 

[Shady]

Thanks for the comments - but check out some of these efforts...

http://www.iwpawards.com/winners2005.html