While perched and stalking birds, a Sharp-shinned Hawk fell prey to an Eastern Screech Owl. The event occurred late afternoon, 3 p.m., in Northwest Lower Michigan and about 45 feet from my back wi...
While perched and stalking birds, a Sharp-shinned Hawk fell prey to an Eastern Screech Owl. The event occurred late afternoon, 3 p.m., in Northwest Lower Michigan and about 45 feet from my back window. I have a feeding station there. The event lasted about 20 minutes. The Sharpie had been perched about 10 feet up in a spruce tree for over 45 minutes, and earlier in the day, mobbing behavior by local birds indicated the possibility there was an owl in the area. I did not witness the initial attack, but saw two large birds locked together spiraling toward the ground. As an eye witness, I can assure viewers that this was indeed an Eastern Screech Owl.
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While birds of prey might occasionally eat other birds of prey (great horned owls killing and eating kestrels come to mind), it's not totally common, especially with the size difference here. This vid threw me for a sec, because screech owls generally are pretty small and sharpshinned hawks tend to be bigger. This might be more normal if a much larger owl took down a sharpshinned hawk (like a great horned), but this is not normal. It's probably a territory thing or the hawk attacked first.
@afffred While raptor does mean thief in Latin this is not the word from which the modern definition of raptor is derived. Raptor comes from rapere meaning "to seize"
It's a sharp-shinned hawk. The tail feathers show that very clearly. Anyone that knows small accipiters will recognize the shape and pattern. That said, the males are quite small, no bigger than a kestrel....a female might have turned the tables.
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Can someone out there answer..., Was this territorial or do they regularly feed on Hawks?
Thanks
its nature it happens every 13 seconds