I've only just recently gotten into bird watching but have always enjoyed watching nature. Now that I've found a birding forum I thought I'd tell about something I've seen in northern minnesota a couple times that I thought was interesting.
In the fall of '06 I went camping in Itasca county and when I woke up early in the morning found a pair of Pileated woodpeckers flying around the campsite being chased around by what I think was a sharp shinned hawk. Or at least I think it was a sharp shinned hawk; from memory it was the same size or maybe a little smaller then the woodpeckers.
It wasn't chasing them like it wanted to eat them though, rather like it was trying to chase them away. Every time one of the pileateds would land on a tree this hawk would come chase them away. The hawk would return to the same area and just a few seconds later the woodpecker would return and they'd do it all over again. It didn't seem to bother the woodpeckers one bit. I watched this for about 20 minutes and at times they flew low and right over my head; it was really fun to watch.
Then last fall I went camping to the same place with a friend and I told her about what I'd see the year before. Much to my surprise when we woke up in the morning the same thing was going on!
For the life of me I can't figure out why the hawk would have any problem with the woodpeckers. It's not like they're competing for food and since it was in the fall I wouldn't think it would be a nesting/territorial thing.
Has anyone else see something similar or know the reason the hawk was so worked up?
Alan
In the fall of '06 I went camping in Itasca county and when I woke up early in the morning found a pair of Pileated woodpeckers flying around the campsite being chased around by what I think was a sharp shinned hawk. Or at least I think it was a sharp shinned hawk; from memory it was the same size or maybe a little smaller then the woodpeckers.
It wasn't chasing them like it wanted to eat them though, rather like it was trying to chase them away. Every time one of the pileateds would land on a tree this hawk would come chase them away. The hawk would return to the same area and just a few seconds later the woodpecker would return and they'd do it all over again. It didn't seem to bother the woodpeckers one bit. I watched this for about 20 minutes and at times they flew low and right over my head; it was really fun to watch.
Then last fall I went camping to the same place with a friend and I told her about what I'd see the year before. Much to my surprise when we woke up in the morning the same thing was going on!
For the life of me I can't figure out why the hawk would have any problem with the woodpeckers. It's not like they're competing for food and since it was in the fall I wouldn't think it would be a nesting/territorial thing.
Has anyone else see something similar or know the reason the hawk was so worked up?
Alan
