We had an interesting sighting on a local reserve yesterday, it was very quiet birdwise so we were looking at Butterflies and Dragonflies most of the time when I spotted a young Kestrel making a pretty poor job of hovering over the grassy area. I was then pounced on by four Crows who dogged it for a 100 yards or so and forced it to the ground. The Crows then sat on the fence while the young Falcon crept into the long grass. At intervals one of the Crows dropped into the grass to prod and poke at the young Kestrel before getting back on the fence. This went on for about 10 minutes before the Crows flew off leaving a very frightened looking youngster to flutter into a bush and hide. The Kestrel was still tucked away in the bush when we walked back 30 mins later so it seemed to have survived its ordel,the Crows were long gone. I'm not sure what it was all about, the Kestrel was a bird bred on the reserve as far as we could tell so was on home territory, any ideas ?
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Interesting.
Only a wild guess and I'd welcome any correction(s), sounds like the kestrel may have been a youngster, and not savvy to the laws of the jungle to coin the phrase, plus some territorial stuff from the crows, esp if they've a brood....
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
It seems very much like it was too young to venture out far.