[tn-bird] backyard Red-tailed attack

Early this evening I was sitting in the grass in my back yard, doing a little 
light weeding. I was totally surprised when a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk flew 
to a snag nearby. It was about 15-20 feet from me. The tree had only a large 
trunk, with no branches left on it. The hawk had a bit of trouble clinging to 
the side of the bark, and spread it's wings to balance a couple times. I had 
unbelievably clear views of this beautiful bird. But it had landed very near 
to where my mockingbird couple has set up housekeeping. So the two 
mockingbirds decided to attack the Red-tailed. Over and over they screamed at 
it and flew at it- hitting it several times. The hawk kept flinching when 
they made contact, but otherwise hung on to the side of the tree trunk. 
Finally it flew off to another tree and both mockingbirds followed screaming 
loudly. I guess the hawk had enough, as my last view was of it flying into 
the sunset (literally) with both mockingbirds still in hot pursuit. I was 
very impressed at how fearless they were! Thanks for the backyard drama guys!

Marian Delaplane
Nashville, TN


=================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER=====================

The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with
first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation.
-----------------------------------------------------
To post to this mailing list, simply send email to:
tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
----------------------------------------------------- 
To unsubscribe, send email to:
tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society
          web site at http://www.tnbirds.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
        jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx      (423) 764-3958
=========================================================

Other related posts: