At times it looked quite ruffled:
Eventually we realized it was because most of the smaller birds in the neighborhood weren't so happy about the hawk being nearby. Many of them dove at the hawk, scolded it, or just kept flitting from branch to branch, close to the hawk, but not too close...
[Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) in the lower left corner.]
We have lots of them here in Orlando area. Never see other birds bothering them.
ReplyDeleteHi, James! I'm not totally sure why the other birds paid so much attention to this hawk. Although we hear Red-shouldered Hawks in the neighborhood, they don't usually spend time in our yard. So maybe the other birds weren't used to it being in that location? Also, the hawk was sitting in a prime spot -- high at the top of a tree where the sun hits first. It's frequently used by songbirds in the morning. So maybe the other birds weren't happy with the hawk using that site? Also, some of the songbirds are starting to become territorial, so maybe they're sensitive to the presence of a hawk at this time of year?
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing from Florida. In the past I led some birding/natural history tours to South Florida. I have fun memories of Red-shouldered Hawks on Sanibel Island.
Jackie