this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
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Photo by Baba-Vulic Aleksandar

A northern harrier catches up to a short-earred owl, knocks the small rodent (vole) she was carrying out of her grasp, and catches it's rapidly descending prize before it meets the ground. Harrier has been known to steal a vole froma short- eared owl in mid-air. This is an example of kleptoparasitism, which is when one bird steals another's food.

That vole can't catch a break! ๐Ÿ˜ฎ

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[โ€“] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago

Revenge!

Not the same photographer, so probably different birds. Still a great photo, and at least both species are keeping it even! ๐Ÿ˜†

Photo by Wendy Poole Levasseur

[โ€“] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Once I was lucky enough to watch this irl. An Osprey had caught a fish and was flying off when a bald eagle flew at the osprey and started swooping at it. The osprey dropped the fish and the eagle caught it mid air, then the osprey went on the offensive and got the fish back. It went back and forth like that for a couple minutes before the eagle finally flew off with the fish. They never once dropped the fish, just kept catching it mid air. One of the coolest things to get to see. Wish I had video of it, but this was before phone videos were worth bothering with.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

That would be so unforgettable, especially if they never dropped the fish! That's so lucky you got to see it!

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

kleptoparasitism

Nice. I'll be able to work that into conversation easily.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Replace the word landlord?

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was thinking the guy who raids the office fridge.

Disclaimer: was a landlord for 2 months. ๐Ÿ™ƒ

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

... sure, you confess to one crime, but for how many years now are you raiding the office fridge every day??

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Lol, I admit nothing!

I am too germaphobe when it comes to food. I don't eat or drink anything even a family member has put their face in. Plus anything in an office fridge I consider to have been in there for at least 6 months! ๐Ÿคข

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Wow what a dickhead! Iโ€™d be livid ๐Ÿซจ

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There are many reasons raptors are but typically social creatures, and this is a prime example.

Whoever brings home the calories lives to see another day!

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Itโ€™s a bird eat ~~bird~~ vole world out there man

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

They're just fluffier dinosaurs!

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This is album cover material

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Nature is metal!

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Look at that vole. What an idiot.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

What do you mean voles can't fly?! ๐Ÿ˜ฎ

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

So mean!!

I've never seen this in real life, but I have seen like half a dozen sparrows chasing around a hawk that was stalking one of their nests. It was interesting to see the cooperation. "Not today, Satan!"

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Mobbing (the little birds chasing off the big ones) is very interesting to get into. It's one of the few things where animals of different species will work together for the same purpose!

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What a fancy, poopy, loud, cute hat!

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's like one of those wacky hats from the royal wedding. Princess Eugenie looks to be getting swarmed by a Jay here:

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ah, yes, the British posh, they both look like they would fight for that vole in much the same manner as the birbs, but without the elegance.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

"I call it.... The Aristocrats!"

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Hell yeah, little Jay, get it!

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I love jays, they are so quirky and badass.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I adore my jays. I switched feeding strategies in my backyard to a trough-style feeder to make extra room for the little birds and prevent the Jays from bullying everyone else out.

One cool thing I've noticed is the Jays acting like a (very loud) lookout alarm for all the other species. The Jays scream, and everyone runs away and hides. I've seen it when the hawk comes poking around, and once when a cat found its way onto my deck.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Heck, the Jays have me trained at this point! Whenever I hear their...delightful voices...I look out the window to see who my new visitor is. They're nature's Ring cam!

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yeah they call that behavior "mobbing". You can actually use this to spot owls in the wild!

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

LOL exactly!