Holy Cow, he did it!!!
On Friday I was on my cell phone talking to an old birding and photography
friend and watching the back yard from the dining room windows. My
Hummingbird-Hunting Loggerhead Shrike landed in the Retama, and I said to Kevin
"uh, oh, I'll bet that the Shrike is going to try to take a hummer again."
A few seconds later, it shot off the branch and stooped on a hummingbird feeder
that had 8 - 10 hummers buzzing around it. As it came off the branch, I
thought to myself "oh, heck, I'm on the phone, the scope and camera are in the
other window, and if it gets a hummer, I won't have the time to get photos."
The shrike flared up right at the feeder, missed the hummers, and perched at
the top of the curve of the shepard's-hook feeder stand. Amazingly, as soon
as it stood still, a few hummers came right back to the feeder, so the shrike
did a power dive straight down off the top, missed again, and the force of its
dive caused it to smack down on the grass.
It stood up, kind of got its bearings, looked up at the feeder directly above
it, and ANOTHER hummer was already coming in to feed! The shrike jumped up
off the ground, came up directly UNDERNEATH the hummer, and grabbed it out of
the air!
I shouted into the phone "He got one! I'll call you back!" I hung up on poor
Kevin, and headed for the scope and camera. As I was moving, the shrike +
hummersnack had gone to the ground a few feet away, and the two local
Mockingbirds were bearing down on the now-identified predator. It took off
with the mockers in hot pursuit. By the time I was able to get to the camera,
the shrike was gone. Dang!
So, lessons learned - 1) Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are NOT used to dealing
with predators, and thus are kind of stupid when it comes to reacting to a
threat, and 2) hummingbirds do NOT expect danger to come up from below!
Learn something new every day.....
Clay Taylor
TOS Life Member
Calallen (Corpus Christi) TX
401-965-9064
From: Clay Taylor
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2020 9:59 PM
To: 4 Texbirds Maillist <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Hummingbird hunter....
Hi all -
At least four times now, I have seen my friendly neighborhood Loggerhead Shrike
trying to pick off hummingbirds coming to the feeders in my back yard! It
comes in low and fast and swoops up to the feeder where a hummer is sitting and
having an afternoon cocktail. I am still trying to figure out if it means to
grab the hummer with its beak or feet. Three times it obviously missed its
target and then perched atop the feeder-pole, looking around for another quarry.
One other time, I saw it atop the pole, looking down at the ground. It then
dropped to the grass and came back up with something (bigger than a cricket or
grasshopper) in its beak, and quickly flew out of sight. I was about 80 - 100
feet away, so I could not see if it was a hummingbird that the shrike picked up
or something else. If it was NOT a hummer, I would really like to know what
that was.
I always marveled at the stories Joel Simon told of the Roadrunner that
ambush-hunted hummers at his old house in Corpus Christi, but a shrike actively
hunting them sounds kind of labor-intensive, eh?
Clay Taylor
TOS Life Member
Calallen (Corpus Christi) TX
401-964-9064
