[Birdtalk] Three American Kestrel attack postures

[birderb at aol.com]

 John:
 
 Thank for your posting, I enjoyed it very much.
 
 Several years ago, I came across an Sharp-shinned Hawk mantling a starling in an irrigation ditch. The Sharpie could not take off with the starling, since it was saturated with water. The added weight prevented lift off. He finally managed to drag it to the side on some vegetation where he began to eat it.
 
 Last year while participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count (President's Day weekend), a Sharp-shinned Hawk hit a starling on one of my suet feeders. They tumbled to the ground like your Kestrel/starling did too. Once on the ground the starling squealed and struggled but the Sharpie held on tightly with its talons. It shifted its weight once in a while to maintain his position on top while he mantled the bird. Eventually, he dispatched the bird with a bite to the back of the neck. 
 
 Once the bird was dead he took off with it to a local tree branch to enjoy his dinner. When filing my report on line that evening, I reported the incident in the comments section with a, "one Sharp-shinned Hawk, one less starling." 
 
 Regards,
    Bill Fenimore
 Utah Audubon Policy Advocate
 1860 North 1000 West
 Layton, UT 84041-1858
 801-525-8400 Business
 801-525-8415 Fax
 801-699-9330 Cellular
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    
 -----Original Message-----
 From: jmorgan480 at comcast.net
 To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org
 Sent: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 7:30 AM
 Subject: [Birdtalk] Three American Kestrel attack postures
 
  Seems it's always the other folks that get the great sightings, being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. My turn came yesterday. There seems to be a relationship between luck and taking the day off! Oddly, it was the American Kestrel that seemed to keep showing up on the radar.   While doing a construction project in a friend/neighbor's yard near 27th W and 90th S (West Jordan), I was lucky enough to look up and see a tightly folded American Kestrel (AK) streaking towards me. He passed barely 10 feet away at eye level. The target was several Starlings on a nearby fence and tree. They all saw him coming and seemed to randomly depart as if to say "Do we run from this little guy, or stay and fight?" The attack came up empty.   Later in the day while biking the Jordan Parkway from Gardner Village to 48th South, the cry of an irritated AK was heard near the water treatment plant. Looking up, I witnessed an AK making attacks on the dark form of a larger Buteo (probably Red-Tailed Hawk) on top of a power pole. Such boldness!   Further North, there's some sort of communications tower near the North end of the boardwark near 48th South. We (wife witnessed this too) were right near the base of this tower and heard the sound of a distressed Starling. For me, this was a lifer/first time witness--an American Kestrel had grabbed a Starling off the wire high above, and both were plunging to the ground in a totally uncontrolled death spiral. They were falling quite fast with very few controlling wingbeats. They disappeared into the vegetation/trees and shortly after what would have been the time of impact, a lone Starling came tearing out of the bushes from near ground level. I can't say whether this was the freed victim, or another nearby bird, but my guess is that in dealing with such large prey, the AK could not control the situation as they braced for impact.   This was very interesting to me and a first time ever type of sighting.   My question to the list is this: I've heard hawks suffocate victims
 with their feet. Obviously, a Starling is much too large for a Kestrel's feet to wrap around. So how does such a small Falcon take a nearly equally-sized bird? Is there a bite to the neck that usually follows? Is that what the Kestrel was trying to do in the death spiral? There was quite a tussle going on during the fall.   John      _______________________________________________
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