Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Mobbed

Today, high over the lake, I saw a hawk being mobbed by a crow.

Mobbing is a term animal behaviorists use to describe the individual or group harassment of a predator by a prey species. It's most often seen in birds, but occurs in a variety of mammalian species as well. The purpose seems to be to alert other members of the prey species to the presence of the predator or to protect the mobbers' offspring by distracting the predator.

If you've ever seen two or three or more birds doing an aerial ballet with a larger bird, you were watching a mobbing.

My  zoom lens was far too short to allow a close-up, but I did get some photos. Here the irritated hawk dives on the crow.


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