Michael, tweeters,

Friday Michael wrote:

>During a glorious sun-break, we found a pair of adult eagles >soaring
upwards in a spiral, with an adult red-tail harrying them. >The hawk would
dive-bomb the eagles, causing some real cool >evasive maneuvers by the
eagles (rather reminded me of how >crows treat red-tails). After a bit we
saw another adult red-tail join >in the crowd.

>I've assumed that the red-tails are defending a territory <snip> >no?

I would think so.

This made me think of the articles I've read (don't ask me when and where
right now, I'm too busy with other stuff to go dig it out...) that mentioned
Bald Eagles raising a Red-tailed Hawk chick alongside their eaglets.

Theoretical explanation was that adult eagle raided Red-tailed Hawk nest;
delivered the chick to its own nest alive, then changed its mind for
whatever reason about feeding it to its young (looked too similar to its own
chicks and killer-instinct was inhibited? -my thought-).

All of this was brought to mind because it indicates Bald Eagles will raid
Red-tail Hawk nests, giving Red-tails a good reason for wanting to exclude
eagles from their nesting territory.

Martin Muller
MartinMuller at email.msn.com