The Joint Flight of The Big Birds

Whenever I see a group of birds flying together, I try to identify the different birds in the group. For example, turkey and black vultures, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles, ringed-bill gulls, and/or osprey might be seen flying together in a group of birds. If I see an osprey, red-tailed hawk, or bald eagle, I will focus on them for an image. The different birds fly together peacefully with few exceptions. Only once did I see an attack by a bald eagle or a red-tailed hawk on a flying ring-billed gull. Additionally, I've seen a bump of a bald eagle by a red-tailed hawk. In this case, the red-tail ambushed the eagle in flight but the eagle just kept on flying, as if nothing had happened. Of course, two immature bald eagles were sitting together in the woods and then took flight. As they passed above the back yard, they locked talons and dropped together to about 20 feet from the ground. I suppose they were practicing for when they would become adults.

The canada geese fly by themselves and serenade me in the early morning and in the late afternoon. Often, great blue heron are down by the creek. From time to time, they perch in the trees. Although I've seen 6 of them flying together, I normally see one or two flying above the yard in a straight line. The ring-billed gulls fly together in large numbers and if they find a freshly manured corn field, they will land and pick out the tasty morsels from the manure.

That's about it for the big birds. I may have missed one but I will add it when I see it this year.

(Originally posted on October 31, 2009)