Re: [MDOsprey] 10/5 trip to Horsehead & Eastern Neck NWR
John and Glennah Trochet (gtrochet@ix.netcom.com)
Fri, 08 Oct 1999 13:43:35 -0700
Dear Birders,
Some twenty-five years ago I lived in Baltimore. One late autumn
morning I, too, observed a small (family?) flock of blue jays tormenting an
immature sharp-shinned hawk at Gunpowder Falls State Park. If the jays were
noisy to begin with, they were frantic in their wails when then hawk managed
to grab an immature jay. The hawk and dead (or seemingly dead) jay flew out
with the rest of the jays in hot pursuit, and all were quickly out of view,
and rather soon out of ear shot. I thus do not know the final outcome. (At
least rarely some seemingly dead bird appears to feign death in order to
surprise their captor with a sudden burst of effort to free itself. In New
Mexico I once saw a flicker escape in this way from a goshawk.)
While it may be "rope a dope" most of the time, it is a practice with
real risks to the taunters.
Regards,
John Trochet
Scott Crabtree wrote:
> Greeting;
>
> We (some Baltimore birders) observed precisely the same behavior last
> Saturday at Cromwell Valley: at least three Blue Jays mobbing a sharpie
> by flying around and in front of, or hopping "provocatively" in front of
> the hawk. Eventually the sharpie would give chase, unsuccessfully,
> although it got VERY close on one occasion. It was performed repeatedly
> and continuously. Couldn't help but wonder if this was a way for the
> jays to cause the sharpie to expend a lot of energy and build up
> frustration: either would tend to drive the predator away. Sort of the
> Corvid version of "Rope-a-dope."
>
> Scott Crabtree
> Baltimore, MD
>
> Charlie Muise wrote:
>
> > Hello
> >
> > As it turned out, I spent the day in Maryland yesterday.
> > Horsehead hosted the normal nice views of captive waterfowl
> > (I find it good practice to watch them for a while before
> > the "real" ones arrive later in fall) as well as a few wild
> > birds: many Mallards, 6 Black Duck, 2 Blue-winged Teal, 2
> > Gadwall, and a female Pintail. I didn't locate the one
> > Green-winged Teal that staff told me was present. Had many
> > raptors all day, including a very entertaining show:
> >
> > A juv SSHA landed in a dead tree, having just failed to
> > catch a flicker. 3 Blue Jays then landed in a thick bush
> > nearby. One at a time, over a ten minute period, they
> > toook turns flying out, up, and past the sharpie, _just_
> > out of reach. The poor thing fell for the bait every time,
> > diving out and after the teaser, and just missing, then
> > returning to roost screaming, only to do it again, and
> > again. I felt sorry for all this loss of energy, but it
> > was funny.
> >
> > Horsehead had nothing notablein the way of waterfowl, but
> > did have 4 terns: one common, several Forster's, 3
> > Caspian, and a couple dozen Royal. It was nice to have
> > Forster's and Common side by side for comparison, as well
> > as the other 2. at my level, its still needed.
> >
> > Lots of warblers, but just a few species: Pine, Palm,
> > Maggie, Myrtle, Common Yellowthroat and Nashville (great
> > look at 2 beauties gleaning and hawking very actively in an
> > opening in the woods along the entrance road).
> >
> > Had at least 7 eagles for the day, and 3 Merlins. And can
> > you say Tree Swallow? about 300 at Horsehead, and maybe
> > 500 at Eastern Neck. At one point I stopped 3 feet from a
> > Myrtle bush with at least 200 TRSW's in it. I could hear
> > them through the car window. I didn't dare open it with
> > som many birds flitting about madly! I had to drive away
> > very slowly, lest they end up in my grille.
> >
> > Good birding!
> >
> > Charlie
> >
> > =====
> > ******************************
> > Charlie Muise, Naturalist
> > Jug Bay Wetlands sanctuary
> > Next to the Beautiful Chesapeake Bay
> > Maryland, USA
> > cmmbirds@yahoo.com
> > ******************************
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