Janet's posting prompted me to toss this out for consideration.

This morning at Middle Patuxent Environmental Area on the Trotter Road
loop (don't ask what trail that is, I can't seem to learn the silly
colors) along the river, we observed at least 25 American Crows mobbing
SOMETHING.  Joining the mob were at least one each Hairy, Red-bellied, and
Pileated and two Northern Flickers, plus five or more Blue Jays.  The
crows seemed to have the vehemence they reserve for owls, and the presence
of the woodpeckers also led me to suspect the presence of an owl.
However, inexplicably, a Red-shouldered Hawk came in, perched 20 yards
away and called.  For the life of me, I could not figure out why a
Red-shouldered Hawk would venture near a large mass of crows, and was
unaware of any mobbing behavior carried out by buteos, so....  After a
while, another Red-shouldered Hawk call came from the area where all the
attention was focused.    Things eventually quieted down, and we went on
our way without spotting the source of the commotion.

So, it would appear that the victim of the mobbing was another
Red-shouldered Hawk.  Do woodpeckers normally mob hawks?  Did the other
hawk come to lend morale support?  I am pretty puzzled by all this.

Kurt Schwarz
HowCo
Goawaybird at verizon dot net

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