Posted by Robert Kelley on December 01, 2002 at 03:17:29:
In Reply to: Air battle over Redland backyard posted by Fireform on November 29, 2002 at 23:25:38:
Last week I saw a blue and gold macaw chasing a merlin. A couple of years back I saw a flock of parrots(too high to identify but probably ycps)
chasing a dark-phase short-tailed hawk out of the neighborhood. Typical days in paradise(High Pines)
just 6 blocks south of the Doc Thomas House in
theoretical Coral Gables, FL.
Bob Kelley
RKelley@math.maimi.edu
: The other day I was lying in the hammock in my backyard with a book, having just sealed the roof of my patio, when the oak tree above me began to fill up with yellow-chevroned parakeets. This was nothing out of the ordinary--they are frequent visitors--but after a while they exploded out of the tree with unusual force. I looked up, and a hawk (I'm no expert, maybe a broad winged hawk) had swooped down just above the oak. The hawk had a very light underbody with prominent very dark and pointy outer wingtips and strongly barred tail. These little 'keets, about 10 of them, instantly swept around and began mobbing the hawk. Very entertaining! After a while the hawk gyred away to the west. I'm sure I'm just ignorant, but I was surprised those little parakeets were so gutsy.