Will we ever return to the classic action films of old? Will the Marvel films ever find their way again? Are our films doomed to forever be a mess of crappy looking C.G.I? Well, what if I told you there was something better than any action film in the cinema, and all you have to do is go outside?
No, I’m not talking about the importance of getting a bit of fresh air and sunshine, though those things are really important. I’m talking about going outside, and finding a load of corvids screaming at a buzzard!
I first encountered this (though it was gulls) a few months ago. Though two things were happening at the same time so I ended up photographing neither. This was my first sighting of a kingfisher, but at the same time, two gulls were chasing away a buzzard. But luckily, it would only be another few weeks before I got my first photo of a buzzard being mobbed.
I witnessed this during the Winter, while walking a short distance from Broad Strand, in West Cork. The hooded crow on the right is perhaps the angriest bird I’ve ever seen!
After a short time, the buzzard gave up, and moved to another tree about ten metres away, perhaps hoping they’d be left in peace there. But no, the two hooded crows followed the buzzard, and started shrieking their heads off until the buzzard left the area entirely! They seriously hated that buzzard!
The behaviour I’m describing, as previously stated, is called mobbing. Here’s a video on the subject:
Mobbing is a behaviour that smaller birds can use to drive away a bigger bird that poses a serious threat. When faced with the angry cries or sometimes even physical assaults of a barrage of many other smaller birds, the bigger bird will usually just give up and leave. Sometimes one small bird will mob a bird of prey single handedly, but usually what happens is that if one bird starts mobbing, it encourages a second bird to start mobbing, and a third, and so on and so forth, until every bird in the area is assembled, united in the task of driving away the dangerous bird of prey!
Sometimes the smaller birds are concerned for their own safety, other times it’s concern for their young, or their eggs. But it shows the power of co-operation as a means of driving away a bigger, tougher, stronger bird!
But, as I encountered more and more buzzards, I noticed something, we’ll say, odd about them, given their bird of prey status.
Buzzards are extremely nervous! When I used to hear their awesome shriek, I used to think, they’re chasing down some bird, or birds. Then as I learned more about them, I realized, there was a good chance that other birds were chasing the buzzard away!
I first noticed this type of nervousness, when I saw this buzzard.
The buzzard was just sitting on the tree branch, looking all relaxed. Or at least I thought they looked relaxed, they could have been scanning the area for prey. Birds lack facial expressions, body language, and even the ability to speak, so we don’t know what they’re thinking. Very inconsiderate of them!
So anyway, as this buzzard was just sitting on the branch, a magpie landed on the same tree. My first thought was, “Magpie, what are you doing, do you realize that’s a bird of prey? You just signed your death warrant!” But what happened next came as a big surprise to me. The buzzard just, took off and moved elsewhere!
Granted, magpies are a lot tougher than they look. But still, it came as a big surprise to me to see a buzzard, take off quite quickly, at the sight of one magpie! I would have thought when there’s a buzzard in town all the other birds fly away, but it’s more like, when there’s any other bird in town the buzzard flies away!
Don’t get me wrong, buzzards DO kill to eat, taking earthworms, rabbits, amphibians, and even other birds.
https://birdwatchireland.ie/birds/buzzard/
But it’s still very surprising to see this raptor get all nervous in the presence of a medium sized bird like a magpie. Such a fierce predator, but also so very timid!
In January, I hit the jackpot with a mobbing encounter. I not only photographed the mobbing, but also got a recording of it! Sadly, the recording isn’t the best quality, I was still using my phone for recording at the time, hadn’t upgraded to my Tascam yet, but I hope this recording gives some idea of what’s happening:
And here’s the photos!
Imagine, we live in a world where we get to just go to a park, or a forested area, or a field, and see a fantastic aerial battle!
Usually these “aerial battles” are a bit one sided, with the corvid, or sometimes gull, basically winning, and the buzzard holding up the white flag in defeat. But here’s some photos where, to the best of my knowledge, the buzzard was fighting back. A true aerial battle!
But yesterday through just being in the right place at the right time, I witnessed the most epic mobbing I have so far encountered. I was cycling back from my first “proper cycle”, of the year, the weather was far too beautiful to not spend a few hours on the bike. I heard a robin singing, so I stopped, got out the Tascam, and started recording. But I could hear something interesting happening in the distance. It sounded like a group of corvids mobbing a bird. Here is the recording.
At first I could identify neither the type of corvid or the type of bird of prey being mobbed. I’m bad at telling hooded crows and rooks apart by their call, and I couldn’t at first identify the bird being mobbed. In the moment, I felt I would go mad if I couldn’t get a visual on what was going on, but fortunately, all I had to do was hop over a gate and step into a field, and I saw this:
Being able to see the birds I was able to I.D them. The birds doing the mobbing are rooks, one of the most commonly occurring crows. And the bird being mobbed is a buzzard. Usually I can identify them by their call, but this one sounded a bit different. I could by anthropomorphizing, but the buzzard sounded terrified. And if they were, I don’t blame them. I just looked at the photo and counted, there are seventeen rooks there. Seventeen! I’d be afraid if I ran afoul of seventeen rooks, and I’m from that species that split the atom, put men on the moon and invented the hairdryer. Seventeen rooks! Good heavens, that buzzard is having a really bad time!
But the rooks didn’t leave the buzzard alone. They wanted that buzzard gone, and nothing would lessen their determination!
Eventually, the buzzard decided it was time to retreat. Seventeen rooks are friggin scary! So the buzzard took off, and the rooks followed.
Eventually, the rooks seemed to give up the chase. Perhaps they were satisfied that the buzzard had been sufficiently intimidated and wouldn’t return, but they just stopped the pursuit and returned to doing other crow stuff.
What is wonderful about sights like this is that it’s a reminder that the world we live in is bigger than we realize or are aware of on a day to day basis. What do I mean by that? This massive aerial battle could have gone on, without anyone knowing about it, if I hadn’t just happened to witness it. Remember, I stopped to record a robin, and then, only then, did my ears pick up the sound of this mobbing incident. It could have just as easily been the case that not one human being on Earth witnessed this amazing occurrence.
And it’s a reminder that humans aren’t the only species on this planet that matters. Sure, buzzards and rooks interact with the human world in various ways, and humans have shaped the landscape, but, broadly, this dramatic incident between rooks and a buzzard could have occurred if there wasn’t a single human being on Earth.We do our thing, and they do their thing, such drama, such wonder, such, epic aerial battles, in creatures with minds so different from our own.
Unless someone else passed by that day and saw it, then I’m possibly the only person on Earth who witnessed this first hand. So I’m delighted by the opportunity to share the audio recording and the photos, so that others can experience part of what I experienced yesterday.
Ponderings Of An Autist 