From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Mon Jun 9 11:51:19 2003 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h59InVa9004520 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 11:49:31 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp2.Stanford.EDU (smtp2.stanford.edu [171.64.14.116]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h59ImIfF004476 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 11:48:18 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from root@localhost) by smtp2.Stanford.EDU (8.12.9/8.12.9) id h59Im2EH029326 for [[email protected]]; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 11:48:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from hppav.stanford.edu (DNab42a589.Stanford.EDU [171.66.165.137]) by smtp2.Stanford.EDU (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h59Ijf90027864 for <[[email protected]]>; Mon, 9 Jun 2003 11:46:27 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Sender: [[email protected]] (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.1 Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2003 11:49:15 -0700 To: [[email protected]] From: Patty Ciesla <[[email protected]]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: [SBB] Red-tail hawk attack on hooded oriole nest X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2+ Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Saturday I watched one of our resident Red-Tail Hawks attack what I assume was a Hooded Oriole nest. Apparently the orioles, with their bird-sized brains, decided that building a nest in the same tree as --and about 20 feet from -- an active hawk nest was a good idea. I've seen them dive-bombing the hawk over the last couple weeks while it was roosting in its nest in the top of our giant eucalyptus. I guess it finally got tired of the bombardment and decided to deal with the invaders of its domain. I saw it perch on a different spot in the euc than usual, and then launch up and grab the fine leaf-bearing twigs dangling from the end of a branch above. Hanging awkwardly from its feet, with wings and tail outspread, it reached up with its head into the bottom of the cluster of leaves. The orioles were going nuts, squeaking and pecking at the hawk's back. There were three orioles participating, including one adult male. The hawk let go, circled around and then made two more attempts to reach into the underside of this cluster of leaves, at one point hanging completely upside down. It finally flew off with the orioles in pursuit. I couldn't see anything it its talons or beak, and nothing fell from the tree, but I was without binoculars. I don't know if the nest is still there, having never actually seen it to begin with I didn't see much of the orioles after that until this morning, when an immature male and a female aged ? visited the nectar feeder. No sign of the adult male yet. I wish they could tell me what happened! Did the hawk reach the nest? Was one of the three this immature male, recently fledged (he's new today)? Did they learn their lesson about checking out the neighborhood for thugs before moving in next time? By the way, this is the third year this hawk nest has yielded no young. I blame a bad location in the euc - branches are too slender and too far from the main trunk. Every year we get big spring winds that thrash the tree and fling the nest around just when eggs or chicks would be present. I guess the hawks have bird brains too; they keep building the nest bigger... Patty _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]