> Is this common mobbing behavior?? Do all our raptors get mobbed by much
> smaller birds? Thanks in advance!
>
> Mary Klein
>

Hi Tweeters and Mary,
Most big raptors in Africa get mobbed by
smaller birds. Two cases in point: The Black Eagle and Martial eagle are two of
our really big eagles. You can often see them flying with a Forktailed Drongo
or two mobbing them. Drongos are about as big as vireos. Not only do they fly
around the eagles and dive bomb them, they land on their backs and pull the
feathers out of them. In the case of the eagle owls, the poor things get mobbed
right through the day by a variety of small birds - I don't know when these
poor owls get time to sleep. None of the above mentioned raptors eat birds, but
they get mobbed, whereas the real bird catchers are usually left t alone.

Regards

Sam
Potchefstroom,
Northwest Province,
South Africa