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Predation on swifts/hirundines? (1 Viewer)

P

Patudo

sub-200 birding aspirant
United Kingdom
Hi all,

Just wondering how often you guys/girls have observed attempts, by any kind of raptor, anywhere in the world, to capture hirundines and swifts - and how often do you think this group of birds are captured? From what I can gather, swifts in particular, seem to appear quite regularly in peregrine prey remains both in Europe and elsewhere, but I've hardly ever seen a serious attempt. Any accounts/anecdotes would be really interesting. I recall one of the birders who saw the Hebridean white-throated needletail mentioned a peregrine stooping unsuccessfully at it.

Cheers,
patudo
 
I saw a Sparrowhawk catch a Pallid Swift as it came out of its nest hole in the Rila Monastery in Bulgaria a few years ago - the swift fought back and escaped, though :t:

At least a couple of UK vagrant Pallid Swifts have been reported taken by Sparrowhawks, but these out-of-range birds might be weak from lack of food.

Also seen a Merlin take a Sand Martin. Hobbies of course habitually take a lot of hirundines and swifts.
 
Not raptors, but watched Herring Gulls unsuccessfully trying to take Sand Martins on the wing above a local reservoir in spring migration.
 
Hobbies have been known to catch Swifts apparently...never personally seen it happen, but seen one grab a Sand Martin and it didn't even seem to be too tricky for it.
 
I've seen an adult female Sparrowhawk successfully taking young Sand Martin's as they hovered before landing on a hide screen adjacent to Bishop's Hide, Cley. Other birders also witnessed her do this - she would use the back of the hide on her evening sorties. Also adult Hobbies taking Swifts at the same site and then climbing before releasing for the juveniles to pursue. Amazing and fortunate to witness both scenes.
 
Another one I forgot to mention above - in Portugal, saw a Sparrowhawk fly up to a House Martin colony on a building, hang upside-down onto a nest, rip the front off the nest, and grab an incubating bird out of the nest.
 
Nutcracker said:
Another one I forgot to mention above - in Portugal, saw a Sparrowhawk fly up to a House Martin colony on a building, hang upside-down onto a nest, rip the front off the nest, and grab an incubating bird out of the nest.
Click to expand...

That's indeed very impressive!

Another story perhaps worth mentioning as well: Southern Portugal, back on the 2nd August 1991 (just checked my notebook), I was enjoying watching a Black-shouldered Kite (now Black-winged Kite) at close quarters, that was hovering about 4 meters from the ground in a rice fields area (all fenced today!). A small flock of Barn Swallows comes and starts mobbing the hovering kite... while it remained still... suddenly it reaches down with its talons immediately catching one of the swallows (that seemed to die almost instantly). From there the kite went to the top of a telephone pole and took its time eating the swallow. It all seemed pretty brutal and unexpected to me at the time, as I was 15 by then...
 
In 2018 I was fortunate enough to have 3 weeks on Antikythira helping out at the Bird Observatory. The island is almost uninhabited just a couple of very small villages. It also has one of the largest breeding colonies of Eleonora Falcons. I'd heard about them waiting above the islands cliffs waiting to ambush Swifts etc but thought it might be an exaggeration. Then I was taken to the site and absolutely amazed as Sand Martins coming in across the sea heading north were picked off or sometimes just played with by the Falcons. The Observatory warden said it was alot more serious when the birds returned as the falcons had young to feed and were more intent on actually catching prey. Was still a sight and sound I will never forget
 

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Patudo said:
Hi all,

Just wondering how often you guys/girls have observed attempts, by any kind of raptor, anywhere in the world, to capture hirundines and swifts - and how often do you think this group of birds are captured? From what I can gather, swifts in particular, seem to appear quite regularly in peregrine prey remains both in Europe and elsewhere, but I've hardly ever seen a serious attempt. Any accounts/anecdotes would be really interesting. I recall one of the birders who saw the Hebridean white-throated needletail mentioned a peregrine stooping unsuccessfully at it.

Cheers,
patudo
Click to expand...
A couple of years ago while monitoring a local Sand Martin colony I would sometimes observe a Sparrowhawk sit on the bank top above the nest holes and attempt to dive onto the birds entering or exiting the nest holes which were about 3 foot below the flood bank edge. This went on 2 or 3 days only,the bird may have been a youngster as the attempts seemed very clumsy and I never saw any success so the bird had probably had success elsewhere. This was along the River Ure in North Yorkshire UK.
 
Where the Danube is bordered by Austria on the southern bank and where the River March enters it on the northern bank where Austria meets Slovakia, in autumn Hobbies gather in numbers to predate the assembling hirundines catching insects above the water.

In Brandenburg in spring, there are a number of longish lakes that lie in quite steep-sided valleys, and on the mass hatching of damselfies and dragonflies, at least 50 Hobbies can be seen hunting them, but if a small passerine such as a pipit from the heaths above the lakes, or an insect-hunting hirundine eneters that airspace, they have to hope that the Hobbies are content to feast on the 'smoke' of the larger insects! A passerine with several competing Hobbies on its tail may actually have a better chance of survival than with just one, for the Hobbies spend much of their time screaming falcon-to-falcon insults...
MJB
 
A couple of years back I was at the London Wetland Centre when a Hobby flew towards me + had obviously caught something. It wasn't far from the Sand Martin artificial bank. In fact it had caught 2 Sand Martins but one managed to wriggle free!
 
Thanks guys - really interesting observations, and Scridifer, thanks especially for the link to your friend's photo. I've not (yet) seen an Alpine swift and it was a surprise to see how large they are.

My own observations have mostly been at the London Wetland Centre where martins can be abundant. I've seen hobbies make attempts at them, but not seen a successful capture (my brother has witnessed a couple, though). The only successful attempt I've seen was by a Barbary falcon in the Canaries which caught a swift. The falcon seemed to be pushing the swift into the wind, which seemed to disadvantage the latter bird, but it was still able to evade several stoops before the falcon came up from behind and below and gathered it up.

You expect hirundines to be (relatively) more vulnerable to such able flyers as hobbies and other falcons, and to masters of the lightning ambush like the various accipiter hawks, but to see kites and gulls chancing their arm at such supremely aerial prey is something else again. I hope to be able to visit some of those spots when (if) the current craziness subsides...
 
I used to live on a property out west which was made up of open Grassy Box Gum Woodland. We had Welcome Swallows that for some crazy reason (previous success) would nest under the tin roof (which could reach 70°C+ in summer - which caused many deaths and suicides !) of the verandah on some wooden rafters. They would often fly around the place hawking for insects.

I was once standing at the edge of the yard looking over the property when this almighty WhooooosH !!! went maybe half a dozen feet over my head from behind - it was an Australian Hobby and it was honking ! I would estimate something like ~100-160km/hr ...... it was in hot pursuit of one of the Swallows who I could not see but heard give an alarm call. There was a couple of blurred high speed maneuvers and then they were both gone from sight around a tree. I did not see the outcome but will never forget the sound and feeling of that rush of air just feet above my head.

It sounded very similar to the WhooooosH you hear when a kite that you are flying as a kid goes into one of those high speed sideways death dives before crashing into the ground at high speed ! :eek!:






Chosun :gh:
 
Seawatching off Dungeness watched 2 Peregrines take out an incoming Swallow but took multiple attempts to catch it and then spent ages fighting over it , but couldn't see the energy to effort ratio was worth it!!!
 
My American Legion Post in NE Pennsylvania overlooks a 44 acre stream fed Impoundment or Lake, if you will. On a few occasions over the years we have watched, from the windows in its Bar Room, American Kestrels feeding on May Flies that were hatching in the lake.

Kestrels are becoming more uncommon in Pennsylvania. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, 60 miles South of where I live has been working in Kestrel Restoration for a number of years.

https://www.hawkmountain.org/news/science/hawk-mountain-is-speaking-up-for-the-american-kestrel

30 years ago I could take a drive through the farm lands south of where I live and see Kestrels perched on telephone wires looking for prey like crickets and grasshoppers and field mice. I don't see them very much any more.

Bob
 
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I was quite excited last summer to have a pair of Swallows arrive late in the year to nest in my car port. They successfully fledged 3 young which took wing and were around for a few days. Unfortunately just when I thought they might head south I came out of the house one morning and a flash by turned into a Sparrowhawk which chased one of the juveniles and had the adults following in alarm, sadly I think the Sparrowhawk was successful. They haven't come back - yet! Bit early.
 
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