When you spend a lot of time outdoors you get to see strange things happen. Birds are consumate improvisors and they are always open to the demands of the moment. So while they may have regular habits, weird things do occur and the field guide will only help you to a point… the rest is just watching. Here now, with brief captions, are some oddities. Please add your unusual sightings in the comments.
This post could be called “Redshoulders do the darndest things” because they have great capacity for strange behaviour. They are known for capturing ground prey but as generalists they are more than happy to take birds… though Rock Pigeons are on the upper end of their scale. The hawk above had the pigeon by only a wingtip and a leg and had to drop it.
Grabbing the shoulders works out better for the hawk though it has to fight the drag from the pigeon’s outstretched wings. Check out the submariner Coot and the startled Great Blue Heron.
Tucked into the shadows the hawk can complete the kill. Unfortunately since this isn’t their usual prey it takes some time.
Osprey…? No, wait,Red-shouldered Hawk dragged into the water by the weight of its prey, a giant rat.
They will take baths but they prefer to do it on purpose.
Red-tailed Hawks eat worms. This one gets up early and finds them on the wet sidewalk.
One eyed birds often get put down or aren’t released but they can survive and can be fierce hunters, like this big female Redtail.
Redtail as Turkey Vulture? They like to sun too.
Fledglings have enough free time to try and smell the flowers.
You’ve seen the nictitating membrane but have you seen the crazy fuzzy white eyelid that comes up from the bottom when they sleep?
Redtails hunt at night… sometimes.
Common Ravens use weird tactics to intimidate hawks.
Heermann’s Gull bills can appear in Great Horned Owl pellets.
Anna’s Hummingbird… nectar in, nectar out.
What have you seen out of the ordinary lately?
Wonderful post! A couple days ago we were birding some fields and my wife yelled, “Look at that Kestrel. He’s got a frog!” Sure enough, an American Kestrel was carrying a big bullfrog over the field, frog legs dangling in the wind. I suppose that’s not that much of a stretch, but in my mind Kestrels don’t hunt frogs.
Jjust last week: Coppers Hawk rushing off into the bushes with a House Finch-sized bird for lunch. I know it’s common but I’d never seen it before.
Second: Blue Heron hunting snakes in a field. Killed or stunned them before eating head first.
Third: we have a koi pond and occasional swarms of small, aphid-size flies that hover and mate over the water in the late afternoon. Occasionally, we see Hummingbirds swoop in for a meal. I guess they catch it with their toungue, hover to eat it, then fly back into the swarm for another. Usually lasts about 5 minutes. It is reminiscent of seals hunting in schools of fish.
Kingfisher hunting just offshore in Monterey Bay. Hovered about 50′ above water till it found its prey, in for the kill, ate on the wing, back to hovering. Only saw this once.
Seagulls eating starfish. Have seen this several times. It takes a long time for them to negotiate it down their throats – at least 10-20 minutes. Halfway down, they always seem to have a look of regret.
Thx for the great photos Walter. BTW, I flew home last week thru SFO terminal 2. I asked the pilot sitting next to me if he knew where your bird mural was. He knew it immediately. After directing me he said, “Just look for the kids playing the xylophone wing.”
Micheal
as somebody (before your time?) used to say, wunnerful wunnerful!
Your photos are almost as thrilling as the real thing (and so often are photos of real things that I’ve never seen!) — thanks Walter!
It was a couple years back, but I’ll never forget seeing Cattle Egrets in a parking lot in Florida picking smashed insects out of the grills of the parked cars. Made sense once I thought about it; big animal, big machine, if it brings the bugs what’s the difference?
What an awesome post! Great story and even better photos. You are so right, given enough time in the field and the odd events begin to accumulate. I once saw a large red-tailed hawk and a turkey vulture in an incredible fight over roadkill! Also, we used to have a one legged crow near our house, he was great on take-off but not so good on landings!
Walter…I don’t think things will ever be the same after looking at those pictures. I think I actually like the flower-smelling hawk the best.
I recently saw two Ring-billed Gulls chase and dive bomb a Cooper’s Hawk that flew out over the lake where the gulls were coming in to roost for the night. I’ve seen plenty of songbirds mob hawks before but seeing gulls actively going after a hawk seemed odd.
I think the oddest thing I’ve ever seen birds doing is Cattle Egrets trying to eat Bobolinks in the Dry Tortugas in Florida.
One time, I was at a quarry pond, and I saw a great blue heron eat a PIED-BILLED GREBE! It stabbed it in the neck, then swallowed it after about 15 minutes.
nice shot!