A month ago I heard the local eight young crows causing such a fuss in the
neighborhood that it drew me outside to see what was going on.  Next door in
my neighbor's yard is a dead tree that the crows enjoying sitting on daily.
I walked over to see an immature red tailed hawk sitting on the tree about
half way down surrounded by the eight crows.  They would hop on limbs
towards the hawk and the hawk did the same.  The several blue jays started
fussing and flying in the same yard but not close to the tree.  All of a
sudden one crow flew towards the hardwood trees and then each crow in turn
followed and bringing up the rear.....the red tailed hawk.  I guess because
they were all young they don't know to stay away from each other yet.  It
was fun watching them.

For a week now I have had 200 plus robins roosting in the trees around my
yard, then each morning they drop down have a few worms and then a few at a
time fly off for the day. Guess they will be moving on soon but it has been
nice seeing them each morning and evening.

Also had a magnolia warbler, red eyed vireo, scarlet tanager and a green
heron is still flying over.  Had another great blue heron visit my yard
until he saw me and then he flew straight over the house.

The red belly woodpeckers and downy are maturing and the red is now showing
up nicely.  I still have two ruby throated hummingbirds visiting my feeders
and am glad to report they are not fighting.

Happy Birding to all
Patricia Viola Rose
Callaway, St Mary's County


-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Kurt Schwarz
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 2:01 PM
To: 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Odd Mobbing Behavior

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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