Yesterday I photographed an attack by an American Kestrel on an adult Red-tailed Hawk. What made it unusual was the fact that the hawk didn’t see the kestrel coming, so its reaction to being thumped on the head was, well… amusing.
The images are of mediocre quality because of a poor light angle and great distance.
I had been looking for Golden Eagles and various buteos in northern Box Elder County (a Christmas morning tradition) when I came across this Red-tailed Hawk being harassed by a male kestrel. Notice that in this shot the kestrel has just buzzed the hawk from left to right. The little falcon didn’t come very close and the hawk seemed almost bored by the feeble attempt at harassment.
I only include these first two images to set the stage for the event. Here I haven’t rotated the image to level the upper wire because doing so would cut off most of the right wing of the kestrel. The strange “shadow or halo” just above the upper wire is actually another wire in the foreground parallel to it.
After it passed, the kestrel kept going, almost to the next pole down the line so the hawk kept it’s back to the direction of the kestrel in apparent dismissal. That was a mistake. The kestrel came back…
and blindsided the hawk by striking it on the back of the head with its feet. I wish my shutter had clicked a millisecond earlier to catch the contact but I’m sure that what I saw through my lens was actual physical contact. The next shot in the sequence (my Canon 7D shoots 8 frames/second in a burst) shows the full reflex reaction of the hawk to the attack.
The hawk jumped straight up into the air in surprise.
It then came back down onto the post and almost immediately took off in the direction of the kestrel. In flight the hawk is slower and less agile than the falcon of course and the last thing I remember is the Red-tail flying away, screaming in apparent frustration (and embarrassment?) as it did so, with the kestrel in hot pursuit.
As I’ve noted many times before, kestrels are gutsy little falcons!
Ron
Great action shots! Capturing moments like these are so unique. Thanks for sharing.
And what about kestrel and crow fight! I usually see them fighting! thank you
Hi, Ron, you know how I feel about photojournalistic shots … my faves. 🙂 I don’t see kestrels enough to have even the remotest chance of witnessing this behavior, so I appreciate the vicarious experience. My most common mobbing visuals are crows and eagles. William mentions that the Red-tail has no fear of a bird like a kestrel. But if you’ve ever been struck by a bird the size of a kestrel, there can definitely be pain and potential for injury. So although it may not be fear, I obviously can’t say, I think there must be a degree of trepidation or even significant discomfort on the part of the larger raptor, particularly when you consider that mobbing crows have been known to injure and ground both Red-tails and birds the size of Sharpies. What do you think?
such fun!!!!!!!
I don’t care to break any bubbles but I think it only fair the Kestrel/Redtail situation be put into a less anthroprmorphic reality. The Redtail basically has no fear or concern about a Kestrel. It represents a nucence and little more. The Kestrel does have respect of a sort and fear of the Redtail. An analogy might be a bomber vs a tiny jet. A bigger jet like a Peregrine represents a real threat to a Redtail (if in the air) and vise-versa if on the ground. The Kestrel understands the game/dance. I bother you enough and maybe you will move on. I recognize all I can do is bother/distract/harry you. Why the Kestrel “mobbed” the Redtail could be many guesses. Likely competition for vole(s)/mice.
Many passerines mob many raptor species but not accipiters. They use alarm calls to warn instead. Corvids mob owls as do numerous raptor species. Generally all this action is about distraction and preventing the threat of competition or nest robbery of young. Though contact can be made a fight is rare. Fights generally are about food (any these are generally avoided by the smaller raptor) or they are about acquiring a mate.
Bill
“I don’t care how big you are. If you sit on MY pole you’re gonna get whacked!”
Who needs TV? We just need to be outside more often!
Great series, Ron!
They certainly seem to be – a real David and Goliath story.
Interesting that the Red-tail dismissed a strafing kestrel after the first pass. Possibly occupied with something else? Wonderful daytime drama!
You totally made my day with this. Kestrels are such feisty little things. A falconer friend has a male who’s just a bit full of himself.
Oh the shot of the hawk jumping up in the air is priceless, lol! Thanks for the amusing story and chuckle.
Charlotte-your vet says dogs don’t perceive size…I wonder about that. We had a golden retriever black lab cross named Bear, who seemed intrigued by anything small, including a rabbit and the kitten he adopted as his own…”not to be shared”…all HIS. Any little dog, rabbit, etc. always caught his eye and had to be checked out. Meanwhile he’d ignore the big ones. I had 6 dogs at the time (don’t ask!), one of which was a mop-like peke/poodle mix. Bear loved to tap his paw on her head just to hear the crazy noises she made when she growled. He did the same with any other small dogs he came across, but never even tried it with our other dogs, all of whom were big…or other big dogs…just the small ones. Thank god he never tried it with our wolf hybrid…in fact they fought so badly we had to keep them separated for 9 years!!! Each seemed to think they were protecting me from the other….what a pain! The other dogs seemed intrigued with little dogs, too…more so than with bigger ones around at the same time….so, I wonder…….
Echoing Patty (again). I grew up with German Shepherds (and cats, and fish, and birds). We had a German Shepherd who adored kittens. She would steal them from their mother and carry them round. It depended how she picked them up whether a head, a tail or a leg or two were hanging out of her mouth. After she had carried them for a while she would tenderly put them back, soggy, but completely unharmed. The cats? No interest. I learned to walk pulling myself up on another Shepherd’s tail. He would just about cross his legs to ensure he didn’t pull me off my feet. But got his vengeance by stealing and draining my bottle.
I wonder too, Patty.
You just gotta love those plucky Kestrels! It’s a good thing they aren’t as large as the hawk. Thanks Ron!
Thank you, Gail.
How truly wonderful. I have a HUGE weakness for birds which ‘punch well above their weight’. And am endlessly surprised at just how feisty some of the smaller birds can be. Patty has it right (again) it is a David and Goliath struggle. And amazing to watch.
What a brilliant Christmas present for you and Mia. A memory to hug to yourselves on dark days.
“Punch well above their weight” describes kestrels well, Elephant’s Child.
Oh, I love it! Guess that’s why Redtails have that mopey ‘Why’s everybody always picking’ on me?’ posture.
Naomi, Your comment got me to thinking and I think you’re right – they do often have a posture that could be interpreted like that.
Priceless! It must have been amazing to watch this, and it certainly gave me a good laugh. What’s not to love about Kestrels? The more I see of them, either through my direct experience or yours, the more respect I have for them and the more I love them. Thank you for starting my morning off really well.
Kestrels are spunky little falcons, Susan and they’re a joy to watch.
Thanks for the laugh! LOVE the hawks reaction….Hilarious!!! Boy, those kestrels are sassy little devils…real David’s to the Goliaths! You might say the hawk was a sitting duck! Thanks for providing such a good laugh…
Glad you enjoyed it, Patty. So did we!
Too funny… Thank you for making my day 🙂
Delighted to contribute to your day, Sheribeari.
I echo Dick’s sentiments–Wonderful!
Thank you, Sharon.
I have never seen a photograph of a hawk JUMPING up in surprise. Fabulous capture. =)
Thanks, Samantha.
How great is this! I wish I had see it. I know from a vet friend of mine that dogs cannot discern size. I wonder if the same is true of birds? I certainly had my morning laugh with this post! Thanks Ron!
Charlotte
Charlotte, I wonder in dogs if it isn’t that they often just don’t care about size rather than not being able to discern it??? I suspect that birds are fully aware of size – one reason a kestrel won’t make a full blown attack on a larger bird and birds generally won’t tackle prey or competitors larger than they can handle – though I have seen exceptions. Here’s a very dramatic example of just that.
http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2013/03/29/2030539/
That hawk had to be blind, crazy, suicidal or all three!!!
As a dog breeder and trainer (occasionally professionally) dogs do recognize size and respond accordingly. I witness dogs regularly responding favourably to small children because of the child’s less threatening size and teach adults to lower themselves to kneeling when first setting themselves up to receive a pup coming in on the retrieve. That’s just one simple example of the canine recognizing and responding based partially on size.
Bill
Good point…what kind of dogs do you have?
Great shots Ron! Wonderful series.
Thank you, Dick. Watching this go down had both Mia and I laughing out loud.