BajaNomad

Backyard Bird wars

Whale-ista - 4-19-2015 at 11:12 AM

Well, maybe more "encounters" than wars...

I do my best to create a garden that's attractive for many varieties of birds. I enjoy sitting outside watching them, listening to them, and taking photos of them with non-telephoto lenses (sorry for the grainy quality of these images).

But sometimes I think I may do too good a job...

A few days ago, when there was a post asking for help to ID a young scrubjay in Baja, I recognized it right away. I also noted I rarely see them in my yard in San Diego.

Fast forward: today a beautiful, brightly colored adult scrubjay entered my yard, squawking loudly and generating scoldings from all the other songbirds that normally visit. I keep the bird feeders well stocked with sunflower seeds. Now that he has found all these goodies, I wonder if he will become a return visitor?


The entire time he was here, Mamma hummingbird was giving him a severe talking to. She just completed building her 3rd nest of the year (under the patio eaves), and is currently incubating her 5th egg of the year.

I expect the 6th egg to arrive any day now, so she is even more territorial than usual...



She's a very good mom. This was chick #4 who crash-landed twice in the garden while trying to fledge. Both times I heard the chick's desperate "peeeeeps" from the ground, and put her back in the nest for another day of TLC. Mom immediately began feeding the crash survivor.

When I returned from an overnight trip to the mountains last Sunday the chick was gone- I hope third time was the charm!



And here's another reason Mama Hummingbird is on edge: this Cooper's Hawk showed up near the patio a few days ago, just a few feet from her nest in the night-blooming cereus plant:


It's amazing how quiet things got in the yard when this guy showed up. It was the silence that tipped me off something was wrong, sort of a "lion at the watering hole" moment...

I love my birds. I just worry I'm doing too good a job of feeding Cooper's hawks...

Cliffy - 4-19-2015 at 02:49 PM

Once, a long time ago, I watched as a Sparrow Hawk actually caught a sparrow in mid-flight about 30 feet in the air. Claws tight and it flew away with its prize.

Whale-ista - 4-19-2015 at 03:10 PM

Yes, bird-on-bird hunting is common. Reminds me of when I lived aboard a sailboat at a local marina.

I would watch the "changing of the guard" each morning: the massive blue herons would take off, departing their roosts in the trees along the shore in the morning. About the same time the night herons returned from fishing on dock lines between the boats all night, and settled in to sleep during the day.

Sometimes there were near-misses and loud confrontations, as the incoming herons negotiated airspace and avoided collisions with outgoing herons near the popular trees.

One morning I heard a terrible racket. A flock of songbirds were going crazy near one of the roosting trees. I walked over in time to see a night heron swallowing a small songbird that had gotten a little too close...

Guess the night heron hadn't caught enough fish from the dock lines the night before?

roundtuit - 4-19-2015 at 03:50 PM

The scrub jays and stellar jays are many in Northern Calif. I have had as many as 20 in my front yard at a time. They love dog food and start squawking at your window at 6am Mother nature alarm clock

woody with a view - 4-19-2015 at 03:57 PM

One day I was out in the backyard and heard a lot of squawking and screeching sounds like I've ever heard. The only thing I could think was to look up and just then about 40 feet above the ground was a red tail hawk that had a crow stuck in his claws. Both of the birds were in a death spiral headed towards the ground with wings outstretched and the hawk wasn't letting go. They both landed about 25 feet away from me. The hawk stood up and stood there while the crow quickly made his escape. One of the coolest things I've seen in a long time!

Whale-ista - 4-19-2015 at 04:50 PM

Woody- I've also seen these big bird wars- but never to that conclusion!

I have mature trees in my yard that attract crows (and every other critter that climbs or roosts). I've watched them harass many hawks overhead- never in direct contact, but diving down on them.

The hawks either head into a tree for cover, and/or flip over to flash their talons mid-flight. Amazing aerial acrobatics.

Often a "murder of crows" will gang up on one hawk- hardly fair fight...
And I think we have crows nesting 1 block over, in a tall palm tree- I can see them coming and going from my kitchen window.

Yesterday as I was driving home I saw a crow-on-crow battle- not sure what had caused the fight, but one large crow was repeatedly harassed from above. It kept flipping over 180 degrees and flashing its talons at the attackers diving down from above.

Pecking order.... not a pretty sight sometimes!

roundtuit - 4-19-2015 at 05:06 PM

Red tail hawk & White Egart Red tail won

Skipjack Joe - 4-20-2015 at 05:45 AM

You may have inadvertently attracted the baby hummingbird's killer to it's nest. That is likely what had upset the mother hummingbird from the start. She knew what was going to happen to her youngster.

Jays eat young birds. I watched it happen on a camping trip in the eastern sierras. In my case it was flycatchers they were after, not hummingbirds. A mother had reared a young one near our tent on Robinson Creek, within a dead tree. We could see it appear at the entrance with bugs for it's young. The jays showed up and repeatedly tried to get to the fledgling. By that time I understood the situation and hurled rocks at this jay whenever it appeared, hoping to use my superior force to deter it from it's meal. But the jay was clearly ready to pay a pretty high price for this delectable meal. Then finally came a day like yours, when the jay was conspicuously absent, as was the mother flycatcher, and there were no sounds of the chick. Things had ended in the only way they could have ended. I was unsuccessful in saving the young.

This disgusting man actually filmed the entire episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHlqY7BfhVc

[Edited on 4-20-2015 by Skipjack Joe]

Cliffy - 4-20-2015 at 10:31 AM

Are you sure they are crows and not ravens? Ravens are much larger than crows and frequent desert terrain in ones and twos not flocks like most crows do.
Ravens are also big predators of desert tortoise young.

Udo - 4-20-2015 at 01:49 PM

GREAT post on this forum!

Bob53 - 4-20-2015 at 02:16 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Cliffy  
Are you sure they are crows and not ravens? Ravens are much larger than crows and frequent desert terrain in ones and twos not flocks like most crows do.
Ravens are also big predators of desert tortoise young.

I was told years ago that the large black birds in southern California that people refer to as Crows are actually, in fact, Ravens. Crows are much smaller.

Bob53 - 4-20-2015 at 02:20 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Whale-ista  


A few days ago, when there was a post asking for help to ID a young scrubjay in Baja, I recognized it right away. I also noted I rarely see them in my yard in San Diego.

I keep the bird feeders well stocked with sunflower seeds. Now that he has found all these goodies, I wonder if he will become a return visitor?

Try putting out some whole, in the shell, unsalted peanuts. They love them.

MMc - 4-20-2015 at 02:32 PM

A murder of Crow/Ravens will attack another murder over territory. If there is a single bird that flies into the wrong territory it will surly be attacked. I have seen it many times.
Quote: Originally posted by Whale-ista  
Woody- I've also seen these big bird wars- but never to that conclusion!

I have mature trees in my yard that attract crows (and every other critter that climbs or roosts). I've watched them harass many hawks overhead- never in direct contact, but diving down on them.

The hawks either head into a tree for cover, and/or flip over to flash their talons mid-flight. Amazing aerial acrobatics.

Often a "murder of crows" will gang up on one hawk- hardly fair fight...
And I think we have crows nesting 1 block over, in a tall palm tree- I can see them coming and going from my kitchen window.

Yesterday as I was driving home I saw a crow-on-crow battle- not sure what had caused the fight, but one large crow was repeatedly harassed from above. It kept flipping over 180 degrees and flashing its talons at the attackers diving down from above.

Pecking order.... not a pretty sight sometimes!