Photo by Baba-Vulic Aleksandar
A northern harrier catches up to a short-earred owl, knocks the small rodent (vole) she was carrying out of her grasp, and catches it’s rapidly descending prize before it meets the ground. Harrier has been known to steal a vole froma short- eared owl in mid-air. This is an example of kleptoparasitism, which is when one bird steals another’s food.
That vole can’t catch a break! 😮
So mean!!
I’ve never seen this in real life, but I have seen like half a dozen sparrows chasing around a hawk that was stalking one of their nests. It was interesting to see the cooperation. “Not today, Satan!”
Mobbing (the little birds chasing off the big ones) is very interesting to get into. It’s one of the few things where animals of different species will work together for the same purpose!
It’s like one of those wacky hats from the royal wedding. Princess Eugenie looks to be getting swarmed by a Jay here: