raptor aggression

Tag

By upside-down

The red-tailed hawk rolled over and presented its talons to the pestering crow.
As the crow ducked under the upside down hawk, the hawk rolled back upright.
Suddenly the crow was the one being chased.

red-tail crow

By angry mom

I was not in sight of the osprey nest when mom osprey found me.
She was angry, very angry; the dropped legs and feet are a threat posture.
I was pulling on my camo when I saw her shadow over me and then heard her scream.
I stopped, dared to lift my camera toward her, and she warned me again.
I did not argue and regretted having somehow upset the protective mom.
Quietly walking back to my vehicle more than a quarter mile away, I wondered about the violent reaction.
I have watched the nest for almost a month, on and off, and I rarely got more than a glance from the parents.
Part of the mystery was solved when a human resident told me that a lot of people had found the nest over the weekend.
They ignored the parent ospreys’ warnings and irritated the human resident since “his” birds were upset.
Another part of the mystery: one of the chicks had fledged and that makes parents very, very edgy.
I gave mom and nest a wide berth and headed on up the lake – asking the Creator to provide the nest some peace.

WALK8493 Jun 21 2015 @ 07-10-54 Robeson Mad mom osprey

By dare

WALK9708 arial talons two 2015

these two immature eagles locked talons in mid-air
they stayed locked talon to talon all the way to the surface of the river before they broke the hold
they flew down river still chasing each other

By tag and bounce

_RK_1266 Cadet and vulture 2014

Cadet, who is the immature osprey on the upper right, has taken to harassing the immature turkey vultures, the bird on the lower left. Both these birds were fledged this year and their flying skills are still sloppy. But that didn’t stop Cadet from diving down on the vulture who had to twist awkwardly to get away.
I caught the moment as Cadet bounced off of the vulture.

By eagle and osprey chase

_RK_7413 - Version 2 eagle osprey chase 2014

The eagle jumped Ace the osprey as the smaller bird lifted his fish from the river.  For about 90 seconds the eagle pursued Ace, trying to get the osprey to drop his fish.  An eagle will ram an osprey then catch the fish midair if the osprey drops it.  Ace finally flipped up on one wing and dove between two closely growing trees, his fish still in his talons.  The eagle sulked off down river.