During my banding years at Cape May, we loved Merlin time. The birds love to have fun and play with any creature available. What you describe is often seen. Our frustration was with the ones that seemed to know our catch tactics and would tease to the point of getting caught and then slip away with a howdy-har-har type vocalization, Finally developed a technique that fooled some but overall feeling they enjoyed playing with us. Perhaps John Confer who has been studying them these last few years can speak to territorial defense. My birds were all migrants. John
On Mon, Jul 24, 2023 at 11:54 AM <t...@ottcmail.com> wrote: > On Saturday in the early evening, at the gate of the Grassroots festival > as crowds of people were streaming in, a Merlin started calling > continuously for many seconds - 10? 15? It came into view from the west > and was chasing a crow and diving at it. They were maybe 30' above the > tree tops and I had no binoculars but they were easy to see, passing > directly overhead. The crow was twisting and dodging, flying evasively > - one of the crow's tail feathers came loose & floated away so > presumably the merlin was grabbing at it. I don't remember hearing the > crow vocalize but the merlin never stopped. They passed over Smith > Woods and then the merlin turned off to the north. My impression was > extreme aggression by the merlin and retreat by the crow but I only saw > them for maybe 5 seconds, it was pretty quick. > > Anyone know if this is territorial defense or something else? Does the > merlin defend territory after its young have fledged? Is it some form > of very rough inter-species play? I found this report in Bent: > > > ... Mr. Brewster (1925) witnessed the following peculiar behavior of a > > pigeon hawk: > > > > He was either playing or fighting with a Crow, the former I thought, > > for although the behavior of both birds was rough and aggressive, it > > seemed to represent mutual participation in a sportive game curiously > > regulated and much enjoyed. Thus the successive lungings and chasings > > were not either one-sided or haphazard, but so conducted that each > > bird alternately took the part of pursuer and pursued, and when > > enacting the latter role gave way at once, or after the merest > > pretense of restance, to flee as if for its life, dodging and > > twisting; yet it was prompt enough to rejoin the other bird at the end > > of such a bout, when the two would rest awhile on the same stub, > > perching only a few feet apart and facing one another, perhaps not > > without some mutual distrust. During these aerial evolutions the Hawk > > screamed and the Crow uttered a rolling croak, almost incessantly. > > They separated and flew off in different directions when my presence > > was finally discovered. > > > Has anyone else witnessed 'play' like this? Alternatively do merlins > continue to attack crows after their young fledge? > > Alicia > > > > -- > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
