Arial Combat

[British Red]

Had a day off today and went for a wander to see if any flutterbies were about. Nothing very extroadinary but did see a nice skylark display (pic in another thread) and a kestrel hunting. Also saw some "mobbing behaviour" with a crow going for a buzzard - lousy piccs but you get the idea of how serious the crow was

Red

 

[pentrekeeper]

Nice pictures, I've seen this behavior several times and I find it a bit odd that the buzzard never seems to react much to the crows just carries on flying. Has the desired effect though as the buzzard does keep on flying away until the crows stop harrassing it.

 

[locum76]

last year when gazing out my front window i clocked a dozen or so crows bombing a grounded buzzard. they had it pinned down, they were like kamikaze fighters. it was a bit scary.

 

[Gailainne]

I've seen that behaviour on a fairly regular basis, not sure why tho, whether it is territorial, food related, nesting, shrug, I did see the most amazing air battle between 2 kestrels and a buzzard once, I was learning to fly a hang glider at the time, so seeing these absolute masters having at it was just brilliant, and ego deflating at the same time , the instructor told us the kestrels had a nest in the nearby tree, which was why they defended so vigorously.

Stephen

 

[British Red]

Seems to be quite common - the most impressive I have photographed is house martins mobbing a buzzard - now that's an uneven fight! Although possibly not as uneven as the sequence I have of crows forcing a Bald Eagle out of the air - that was something to see.

Always reminds me slightly of a heavy lumbering bomber being attacked by fighters when done by smaller birds

Red

 

[Elendeor]

Ive seen this twice this year from crows, once with a falcon and once with an owl which was wierd!

 

[hedgepig]

Hehe - saw some Golden Eagles being "harassed" by some ravens up in Ardnamurchan last year. The eagles didn't seem overly concerned by the whole thing ... just kept on merrily flying on their way.

 

[Matt Weir]

Red,

How is it the birds near you always seem to be scrapping with each other?

You need to start handing out some Anti Social Bird OrderS

 

[rancid badger]

We often see the crows trying to stuff the red kites around here, in fact, they more often than not succeed!

Very dramatic to watch, by the way Red, the photo's of the Kestrel were stunning:notworthy
Cheers
Steve

 

[John Fenna]

Welsh Red Kites and Buzzards are equally cowardly - or our Rooks are "well 'ard" - living by a vilage called Boncath (Bwncath = buzzard in West Walian if not BBC Welsh) we get loads of the darlings round here and our local rookery is oposite my bedroom window I get to see lots of these combats.
The Rooks always win.........
Native Red Kites are moving into our area and get the same treatment from the Rooks!

 

[WhichDoctor]

I often see this in the back garden, we've got a good (or bad, depending on how you look at it) population of Crows and Magpies round here and they will take on any Raptor that comes past. Buzzards, hawks, and especially the resident sparrow hawks are always on the wrong end of a dive bombing or two. We do rarely see a Red Kite fly past on a jornt from Wales but never seen it get attacked, maybe if it came a bit lower it would.

It is quite a spectacular site though specially when its the smaller Magpies attacking a grate big Buzzard.

 

[Staghound]

Strangely the goshawks get treated with a lot more respect, don't know it's the same everywhere but round here when there's a gos on the prowl the crow population vanishes.

 

[British Red]

Since its a topic of interest - here are some older mobbing sequences - this one is the bald eagle under attack

here she is coming in to her handler - her expression says it all

and after landing screaming - really not happy

Sorry this is so blurred but it was a hurried shot - house martins mobbing a buzzard

I still find "mobbings" interesting to watch!

Red

 

[Scrimmy]

Quality pictures, Ialso find mobbings interesting to watch, I remember watching the Sparrowhawk pair and a Carrion Crow pair battling for territory at a local nesting site, exciting stuff. Cain

 

[philaw]

There's not many poultry that I'd be scared to put my face near, but you've got one there. It's a magnificent animal.

 

[British Red]

There's not many poultry that I'd be scared to put my face near, but you've got one there. It's a magnificent animal.

Whys that then?

 

[Scrimmy]

There's not many poultry that I'd be scared to put my face near, but you've got one there. It's a magnificent animal.

Poultry ?? lol . Cain