Expert: Julia Booth - 3/7/2008

Question
QUESTION: Today I was walking and spotted some little birds attacking a bird more than twice their size. Upon closer inspection I noticed it to be some kind of raptor so I raised my camera to try to take a picture of this. When I raised my camera the little birds flew away in one direction and the raptor just sat there looking at me. When I moved a little closer to get a good picture of it, it flew away in the other direction. I've managed to get a few feathers from beneath the tree where the raptor sat as the little birds were attacking him. The attachment is a picture of these feathers. What really surprised me is that the raptor was not fighting back it was just sitting there letting the little birds attack it.

ANSWER: Those feathers look remarkably like mourning dove feathers, but I have never heard of doves attacking any sort of raptor. I know that these feathers do not belong to a raptor, because of their shape and color. Is it possible that they were just already laying there and didn't come from the birds you saw?

It's possible that the raptor you saw was wounded in some way, but doves are not generally aggressive, even when threatened.

Could you give me some more information? Perhaps what county you live in (so I can check distribution) and maybe a better description of the raptor? Did it appear injured? What color was it? Did it make any sound? Did the smaller birds make any sound?

The reason I ask is because sometimes raptors play with their offspring in a way that might appear to be fighting. They are in fact teaching them to hunt and fly.

Wish I could help you more. Give me some more info and we'll go from there.

Julia

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QUESTION: I couldn't get a close enough look to see exactly what the raptor looked like and the little birds were moving so fast that it was difficult to get a good description of them but I will try. Lets start with the little birds they were about the size of a robin or blue jay. The little birds were making quite a commotion though not a very loud one because of being so small. They could have been robins because there is a rather large robin population, I believe that's the word, here on campus in Greenville, SC. From what I could see of the raptor it looked light grey with a dark grey or black head but like I said I was a little too far away to get a clear view of the raptor. The raptor didn't seem injured it just seemed not to care that the little birds were dive bombing it. The raptor was rather small for a bird of prey about half the size of the Red-tailed hawk that hangs out on a different side of the campus. When I walked away and had walked a good three yardsticks away I notice in a different tree a juvenile robin sitting in a branch approximately. 10 feet. off the ground and "peeping" as if it were either hurt or looking for its parents and it didn't fly away even when I got directly under it beneath the tree it was sitting in. Now, when I say juvenile it already had flight feathers so I don't know if they get their flight feathers before they learn to fly and leave the nest or not.

ANSWER: Okay, based on your description and your location, I'm thinking the raptor was a Merlin or a Peregrine Falcon. It sounds like what happened was the raptor attacked a nest of young that were getting ready to fledge and the parents decided to go Medieval on him. Robins are capable of being aggressive if necessary, especially if their young are threatened. The raptor might have been stunned and unable to fight back, temporarily.

Hope that helps. I'm not sure what else I can tell you.

Julia

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QUESTION: Thank you. I think its a peregrin falcon. A little bit out of their range though. Do you think they may be spreading their range out and making a come back because the web site that I looked at said they were on the decline and I think it said they were endangered. The web site also said that they were docile which might explain why it wasn't fighting back. Also I can't afford one right now and probably not for awhile maybe six to eight years or longer but do they make good caged birds like parrots and if so are they expensive? The little birds may have been robins or mocking birds or cardinal as we have a lot of all three right now.

Answer
That's why I'm thinking is was probably a Merlin you saw. It's a bit more common. Peregrines do winter along the southern atlantic coast, though.

I have no idea what the cost would be to purchase a falcon, but I believe they are bred in captivity for that purpose. I do know that you have to obtain a license, which requires a certain number of hours of training. You also have to have space for it (bigger than a parrot cage) and be prepared to meet it's feeding needs.

This is a link to the falconry license requirements in my state, just for reference: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/pdffiles/fg361a.pdf

Look up the department of fish and game for your state and see if you can find it there.

Julia