The Newest Member Of The Family

The immature Red-Shouldered Hawk finally visited my yard.  I have seen it flying with it's parents several times but it hadn't perched in my yard till today.  I believe it's a male and fledged about three weeks ago.  He was holding up one of his legs in this shot.

 
He was rudely greeted by the songbirds in my yard.  A group of American Goldfinches, House Finches, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted Nuthatches took turns mobbing the youngster.  Then the Grey Squirrels joined in.  He had to switch perches a few times to avoid the group.  In the above picture, he was trying to get a better view on one of the birds harassing him.

It looks small so I think it's male though it's hard to say for sure unless I see it with one of the adults.

Here is an older shot of the proud parents.  Happy Birding and enjoy the new fledglings in your area!

A Mob Mentality

Why do birds mob?

User OutRIAAge02/Wikimedia creative commons

Photo Credit:  User OutRIAAge02/Wikimedia creative commons

Ever seen a group of chickadees take on a much larger Hawk? A group of Blue Jays harass a larger Raven out of your yard? Or even a group of birds harassing a fox? You probably have asked yourself, "Why would a much smaller bird risk their lives to take on a much bigger bird?"  Well, just like people, birds have strength in numbers.  

I have always been interested in bird behavior not just identifying birds.  It is fascinating to watch what will happen next.  Sometimes, the behavior is completely what you thought  it would be  and then there are the times that the result is completely unexpected.  Mobbing is one of these behaviors. You would think these smaller bird would run and hide from the "Big Bad Hawk" but they do the direct opposite. 

There are many theories to why these birds mob larger predators.  They range from: protecting their young, alerting others of a predator in the area, distracting predators so much they don't think it is worth the effort to hunt in the area, to alerting larger predators that a smaller predator is  "right there".  I think there is probably several reasons why birds mob predators and all seem to be associated with removing the danger from the area.  I have to say I have never seen a mobbing by a group of birds actually not work in making the predator leave the area.  They usually leave in a hurry!  There is probably some risk associated with this behavior but I think the risk greatly outweighs the rewards.  

Share your stories of "mobbing" in the comments below or on the Facebook page.