Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The Battle of the Birds

During my recent vacation stop at Gingko Petrified Forest Interpretative Center, I enjoyed watching a territory battle between a Common Raven and a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.  The birds spent a good twenty minutes or so swooping around the cliffs, up and down, and over and around the Center.  Oh, how I wished a pro photographer had been there!  But I snapped what I could, and here are the results:

Combatant number one:  Raven




Combatant number two:  Hawk




Raven chases Hawk:




Hawk chases Raven:



I have no idea who is chasing who here:



Hawk gives up and flies away, perhaps to do battle another day.


I'm so glad I was there at precisely the right time to see this fabulous encounter.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, those are wonderful. I don't blame the hawk for leaving. There is something about ravens.

    Eric and I once saw ravens doing their courting flights amongst a group of paragliders.

    P.

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    1. Yup, the raven was very vocal and very persistent. And the hawk was a juvenile, and possibly bit off more than it could handle. They were very evenly matched in size, though, and it did go back and forth quite a lot.

      Courting flights among paragliders?? Fabulous!

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  2. How perfect Alex, being in the right place at the right time, sensational photos

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