Amazing image of a Kingbird attacking a red tailed hawk 20x its size
05/10/2009 18:31:31
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Feisty kingbird hitching a ride on a Red tailed
hawk. The hawk was too close to the Kingbird's
nest so the Kingbird showed who was boss.
Image copyright Pat Gaines. |
Kingbird are known to be aggressive defenders of their territory, but this image show just how aggressive they can be. The red tailed hawk, which will have weighed in between 20 and 40 times heavier than the Kingbird, would have had a major surprise.
Seeing hawks being mobbed by smaller birds is a relatively common sight, but Pat Gaines, who lives in Denver, Colorado, watched as this Kingbird at first mobbed, and then actually attacked the hawk. The smaller bird landed on the back of the Red tailed hawk and clung on for several seconds, pecking at the hawk's head while it flew away.
The combination of the Kingbirds claws being stuck in its neck, while the smaller bird pecked at its head was too much for the hawk, which flew away as fast as it could once it had managed to dislodge its attacker from its back.
Red tailed hawk being driven off by a Kingbird. Image courtesy of Pat Gaines.
Read the comments about this article and leave your own comment
Funnily enough, last week I saw two hooded crows mobbing a red kite, with one crow flying above the kite and landing for a moment on the kite's back. I have never seen this before, and unfortunately was on my own without a camera!
Anyone else seen anything similar? Although I've seen crows mobbing kites and buzzards I've never seen anything like this before.
In addition, watching the shore at the weekend, a crow and a gull came to blows over food the gull had found - the gull obviously fed up with the crow's tactics, picked up the 'food' and threw it in the direction of the crow - as if to say 'here you are have it and leave me alone' - then sat and watched as the crow enjoyed his free meal.
Readers might also enjoy this story of the gull and the pike:
tinyurl.com/yfv628h
Posted by: Jackie West | 09 Oct 2009 13:27:12