I was sitting outside reading today when a great racket erupted, which
turned out to be two robins chasing, flying low and literally chasing, a
squirrel. Robin Number One swooped down as if it were trying to take a
chunk out of the squirrel's back. Squirrel escaped into a nearby rhodie
bush, RN1 followed it in and perched not too far away. (Intimidation
tactics??) Robin Number Two had landed in a nearby tree, then it called to
its partner in crime and they both took off. The squirrel stayed frozen in
the rhodie for a bit, then hightailed up the tree formerly occupied by
RN2. Now, what do you suppose the squirrel had done to rile up those
robins??? I'd never seen robins chase a squirrel before. Do squirrels go
after robins' eggs, could that be it?

Mary Klein
Seattle
bassclef at aa.net



At 03:04 PM 5/26/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Some 15 or 20 years ago we watched a robin here at our house in Stanwood
>bring a small garter snake to its nest. As memory serves, it was also about
>8 inches in length. That makes at least two such instances observed.
>
>Dan Logen
>Stanwood