Re: Hawk Encounters!!!

["Dan" <Shawkeyr2@A...>]

--- In Freeflight@yahoogroups.com, Emily <toozoo@o...> wrote:
> Finally, Gucci landed high in the tree hanging 
> upside down on the tip of a branch. This is VERY unusual behavior 
for 
> him. He is decidedly a roof top kind of guy. 

I,ve seen the very same evasive tactic used by Teq, a little Sun 
Conure, under the same circumstances.

It seems that by hanging upside-down puts an object between danger 
and themselves and provides an excape route that is obstructed 
somewhat by the pursuing predator. That escape route is usually a 
straight down flight path that provides extreme speed exceleration 
for some pretty fancy evasive flight manuvers.

The ensuing squawking and screeching attracts all kinds of attention 
from the those in the area and all heck breaks out. It seems that the 
universal language of danger is well understood.

> Again, a few crows arrived 
> to save the day and the hawk flew away. I have always LOVED the 
Crows and 
> now I do even more....

Such noise always seems to attract the corvids most...... crows and 
jays are always ready and never far away!!! Within moments every 
corvid species within earshot decends upon the area and usually the 
numbers drive out the maurading raptor in a hurry......... and still 
hungry!

Coopers, Harris, Sharpshined and Harrier as well as others, can enter 
below the canopy at amazing speeds from incrediable altitudes. I 
cringe everytime I see them fold their wings and disappear below the 
treeline from their soaring heights. It only takes a second or two.

When I first step outside, no matter how excited Teq is to go out, he 
always looks to the sky carefully before taking flight from me. 
Usually a short hop to one of his favorite nearby perching branches, 
and again, a carefull scan of the skys....... then the fun can begin.

Dan & Teq