Interesting Starling Behavior (1 Viewer)

Earlier this evening I watched a soaring Red-tailed Hawk being mobbed by a small flock of English Starlings (40 or so) flying around him in a kind of mini-murmuration. He would fly away from them and they would follow him. This continued for several minutes until he took a bee-line into the next county.

I was wondering if this was a common thing with English Starlings--ganging up on our Red-tailed Hawks here in the USA and on Common Buzzards in Europe.

I have seen Red-tailed Hawks being mobbed by a variety of birds often, including Broad-winged Hawks and Sharp-shins, but never by a pack of birds from a single species.

Bob

Something I'm more used to seeing Jackdaws and Carrion Crows doing, not Starlings.

Hi Nutcracker,

I did some research on Murmuration and it seems that Starlings often engage in it when a predator like a Peregrine Falcon is flying nearby. So maybe I got it backwards?

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/winter-2017/hungry-raptors-make-murmurations-even-more

Perhaps they were reacting in defensive manner rather than aggressively mobbing the Red-tailed Hawk?

Bob

I think it is both defensive and offensive. I've seen them doing this with Sparrowhawks quite a lot and they tend to flock up (defensive, confusion factor of many birds) and follow the Sparrowhawk around, keeping in its six o' clock where they can't be attacked (defensive) but calling constantly so attention is drawn to the predator and it can't hunt effectively (offensive).

And its European Starling, not English, thank you, no matter who introduced them to North America.

John

Never seen smaller birds do it, but crows will harass anything as long as there are at least three crows around who can team-up. I've witness crows harass red-tails, harriers, and barn owls.

We don't have alot of starlings around to see how brave they might be, only ever see them 1–2 at a time.

Farnboro John said:

I think it is both defensive and offensive. I've seen them doing this with Sparrowhawks quite a lot and they tend to flock up (defensive, confusion factor of many birds) and follow the Sparrowhawk around, keeping in its six o' clock where they can't be attacked (defensive) but calling constantly so attention is drawn to the predator and it can't hunt effectively (offensive).

And its European Starling, not English, thank you, no matter who introduced them to North America.

John

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I agree here. I've seen this several times with Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawks in Pennsylvania.

Hi Kevin,

CalvinFold said:

Never seen smaller birds do it, but crows will harass anything as long as there are at least three crows around who can team-up. I've witness crows harass red-tails, harriers, and barn owls.

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Small birds mob birds of prey, too - even without much of a numerical superiority.

I've seen Common House Martins mobbing Common Kestrels, on another occasion White Wagtails, and quite recently even Western Yellow Wagtails mobbing a Western Marsh Harrier.

It's a general biological law that metabolism rate decreases with increasing body mass, so smaller birds tend to have a better power-to-weight ratio than bigger ones. Small birds can keep up the mobbing mostly because they're able to climb above their opponent, which provides them with the means to avoid becoming a target themselves.

Where birds of more closely matched body mass clash, it becomes more of a contest of skill. Sometimes, after a number of manoevres the mobbing bird suddenly turns and flees ... I suppose that's when the bird of prey managed to fly a manoeuvre more smoothly than its pursuer, who then finds himself at equal speed and altitude, and thus vulnerable to counter-attack.

Interestingly, while the Common Buzzard is usually the heavier bird in such encounters, often getting mobbed by crows, the general biological law gives him the advantage over even larger birds. On one occasion, I've seen a pair of Buzzards mobbing a White-Tailed Eagle crossing what I suppose was their territory. They attacked him violently, talons first, and the Eagle lost quite a lot of altitude in radical evasive manoeuvres, including a full 360 degree roll, before flying off at little more than tree-top height.

Regards,

Henning

I see crows and magpies mobbing birds of prey, but never starlings.

Hauksen said:

Small birds mob birds of prey, too - even without much of a numerical superiority.

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Sorry, I didn't mean to imply they don't, just that *I* haven't witnessed it. ||

On the other hand I have seen crows engage in using their wings to bump and tip the wings of flying birds of prey like harriers and red-tailed/shouldered hawks. I've also seen crows drive a barn owl to the ground. And it's always three crows at a time for some reason.

I'd like to see a bunch of small birds, any small birds, go after a bird of prey in any numbers. That would be quite a sight!

Hauksen said:

Hi Kevin,



Small birds mob birds of prey, too - even without much of a numerical superiority.

I've seen Common House Martins mobbing Common Kestrels, on another occasion White Wagtails, and quite recently even Western Yellow Wagtails mobbing a Western Marsh Harrier.

It's a general biological law that metabolism rate decreases with increasing body mass, so smaller birds tend to have a better power-to-weight ratio than bigger ones. Small birds can keep up the mobbing mostly because they're able to climb above their opponent, which provides them with the means to avoid becoming a target themselves.

Where birds of more closely matched body mass clash, it becomes more of a contest of skill. Sometimes, after a number of manoevres the mobbing bird suddenly turns and flees ... I suppose that's when the bird of prey managed to fly a manoeuvre more smoothly than its pursuer, who then finds himself at equal speed and altitude, and thus vulnerable to counter-attack.

Interestingly, while the Common Buzzard is usually the heavier bird in such encounters, often getting mobbed by crows, the general biological law gives him the advantage over even larger birds. On one occasion, I've seen a pair of Buzzards mobbing a White-Tailed Eagle crossing what I suppose was their territory. They attacked him violently, talons first, and the Eagle lost quite a lot of altitude in radical evasive manoeuvres, including a full 360 degree roll, before flying off at little more than tree-top height.

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Interesting and informative post. Thanks for taking the trouble. . ..

Farnboro John said:

I've seen them doing this with Sparrowhawks quite a lot

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Likewise.

ceasar said:

Hi Nutcracker,

I did some research on Murmuration and it seems that Starlings often engage in it when a predator like a Peregrine Falcon is flying nearby. So maybe I got it backwards?

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Yep, I've seen Starlings behave like this with falcons (Peregrine, and Hobby) and Sparrowhawks, just not with Buzzards - the difference being that these are all high risk aerial predators which will take Starlings in flight, while Buzzards are only very low risk :t:

Nutcracker said:

Yep, I've seen Starlings behave like this with falcons (Peregrine, and Hobby) and Sparrowhawks, just not with Buzzards - the difference being that these are all high risk aerial predators which will take Starlings in flight, while Buzzards are only very low risk :t:

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I can add Merlin to the falcon list which I witnessed being mobbed by big flocks of starlings on several occasions at Aberlady Bay on the Firth of Forth many years ago. An impressive sight!