Silv,
Would have to agree with fugl .....
'There's nothing "little" about jackrabbits'.
Even your adult cute little fluffy cottontails will run about the same weight as a Red-tailed Hawk, ~ the jackrabbits up to twice that.
Neither would be a walk in the park - the jackrabbit would take a mighty effort, even from an accomplished predator like the Red tail.
I always like hearing about Red-tailed Hawks, because they are very much like our Little Eagles, with pretty much the same behaviours and ecological niches - although our Eagles certainly don't have that impressive, piercing
kree-eee-ar which hollywood seems so fond of....
Little Eagles are larger than your northern Booted Eagles, and maybe a poofteenth less than a female Red-Tailed Hawk, although I think the talons on the Little Eagle are larger and more powerful (with it's closest relative the now extinct 33lb / 10ft wingspan Haast's Eagle of NZ - is it any wonder!).
The female Little Eagle is ~3lb, just under 2ft long, with a wingspan of ~4&1/2ft, males are about half the weight, and around 4 inches less dimensionally.
Like the Red-tail, they are fierce hunters, and take all manner of birds // as well as prey to rabbit (our European rabbits which some genius :C released here, get up to 5lb) // through to hare size (~9lb, I think you folks call them Jack-Rabbits over there, although these would fall into the irregular-exceptional prey category - way too much effort usually).
From what I have read / seen, mammals and reptiles are the primary prey - birds, secondary.
I see these almost daily, along with their run-ins with Australian Magpies, and Crows.
The magpies in particular go ape-sh*t when they see a Little Eagle.
The crows will certainly harrass them, particularly when the numbers are stacked well in their favour.
The Little Eagles will actively predate all nestlings / juveniles, even of these two: the cranky 'Black and Whites', and the equally narky 'murder' of crows; although there are easier pickings which are preferrable.
My take on it (from much observation |=)| ) is this. It comes down to two factors:
1. Energy
2. Opportunity
Like most of the natural world on a 'survival' footing:
the energy / effort expended v's the likelihood of success + the reward gained (calories) equation forms a large part of behaviour.
There may be some 'learned' variation in this - i.e. one young and dumb Little Eagle / Red-tailed Hawk tackles a full grown buck Hare / Jackrabbit, and gets lucky - nails it -kills it - eats it - thinks jeez this is great - and goes on to live like this as a key hunting behaviour - and even passes this on to its offspring.
Another poor young raptor tries the same thing - gets the sh*t kicked out of it (or maybe even suffers a broken wing / leg) - abandons the behaviour as too much trouble (or dies), thus ending the behaviour.
I believe it's a similar thing with the Raptors / Maggies / Crows.
99% of the time, when being mobbed the Little Eagles are content to rather nonchalantly shrug off the attacks using their superior soaring skills, as an energy efficient means of escape, particularly when there are strong thermals.
I believe this to be an evolved behaviour which provides superior energy-balance dictated, ongoing survival mechanisms.
The opportunity part of the equation arises when the amount of energy expended by the Maggies / Crows in strong thermals or strong winds, provides the Raptor with a sufficient strength / stamina, power, numerical (such as one-on-one, other foes returned to territories well out of reach), or positional (dogfight) advantage, as to make an opportunistic attack worthwhile (in energy-survival terms).
The other side of the opportunity coin is when an ambush situation presents itself, thus stacking the odds greater in the Raptors favour / and minimising the usual risks.
Another option which I have observed is that the Raptor will just reach its fill of constant bullsh*t - Snap !
- and muderate the annoying little so-and-so !!
It always amazes me that such powerfully built raptors don't seriously attack their harasser's more often, and more violently.
The Maggies / Crows are particularly aggressive, and armed with strong beaks, and reasonably powerful flying muscles, so I believe it's just easier (and less risky!) to ignore them.
Every so often though ......
Chosun :gh:
