Bird fight.

B3 · February 2023

I've just been watching a prolonged battle high up in the sky. The smaller bird by the way it had been hovering before the attack was possibly a kestrel. It was attacked by a larger black bird possibly a corvid.
What I thought strange was the smaller bird eventually tried to get away but the bigger bird kept chasing and attacking it. They eventually got too high and too far away to see. For all I know the battle continues.
Is this kind of fight to the death common? Is it the time of year?

SherwoodArrow · February 2023

I have seen corvids chase away lots of birds including buzzards from nesting areas, i have managed to see a few till the end and they (in my experience) end with the corvid being satisfied that the other bird is far enough away. I’m not an expert in anything though so others may know different.

steephill · February 2023

Corvids will attack anything they see as a threat including other corvids. I have seen crows, jackdaws and magpies chase buzzards, tawny owls and jays.

CatDouch · February 2023

Hi @B3 It sounds like the corvid doesn’t want the kestrel on its territory. Crows are known for mobbing birds of prey, I regularly see a group of crows mobbing buzzards above our house. Perhaps they don’t want them anywhere near their nests, birds are very territorial at this time of year as they search for suitable nest sites and mates. Fascinating behaviour from clever corvids.

Dovefromabove · February 2023

Corvids will keep on driving birds of prey away ... harrying and attacking until they're sure the battle has been won ... some birds of prey will target Corvid nests as they see nestlings as an easy meal.

Also it may well have been a territorial battle as Carrion crows will defend a considerable area around their chosen nest site ... and Corvids and kestrels/sparrowhawks/buzzards etc all like similar nest sites near the tops of tall trees.

There's also the possibility that the crow was pursuing the kestrel in an attempt to get it to drop a vole or whatever that it had caught ... Corvids are highly intelligent and have learned many tricks to get food.

Fairygirl · February 2023

I've regularly seen crows/rooks having a barney mid air with buzzards.

Dovefromabove · February 2023

Happens a lot around here too nowadays @Fairygirl ... we have several buzzard breeding sites quite close by ...

👍

Fairygirl · February 2023

Gotta luv a buzzard @Dovefromabove

They're very common all over Scotland, and the most common bird you'll see along any motorway, as many of them have great habitat for them - plenty of little mice etc for their lunch.
There used to be one that I'd see almost every day, on a pole just at the foot of the road where I worked. Ever since they built a bypass down there, it was clearly a good restaurant for him

Dovefromabove · February 2023

Nowadays it's a rare drive out in the East Anglian countryside that doesn't involve at least one sighting of a buzzard ... we have Red Kites nesting near here too. When I was growing up in the countryside I never saw either ... the occasional roadside kestrel on a trip to visit farmily a few counties away was a big deal.

Wonky, slap bang in the centre of built up Ipswich, gets Sparrowhawks in her garden.

philippasmith2 · February 2023

@B3 Certainly not an uncommon sight and agree that it can either be territorial or, as Dpve suggests, the chance of a free meal.

Fairygirl · February 2023

We've had a couple of sparrowhawk sitings in the garden over the last couple of years or so. I don't know whether that's anything to do with the lockdowns, and birds not getting as many freebies due to the public, or something else, or just coincidence.
When I lived round the corner from this house I don't think I ever saw a sparrowhawk coming anywhere near.
Loads of birds around here that don't necessarily come in the garden though, including the larger corvids. When I came home the other day from my walk, there was a little redwing rootling around in the hedge/verge beside the NT garden. They do occasionally come into the garden, but usually just in more severe weather and we haven't really had that this winter - again.

Bird fight.

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