The portion of the fight that occurred on the ground.
Three days ago I photographed a 13 minute battle between two immature Red-tailed hawks. The beginning of the fight which I covered in Part I occurred at or near the top of a power pole while the extended conclusion I’m covering in Part II today happened on the ground.
In an effort to ease the transition between Part I and Part II I’ll begin with the last photo I posted yesterday. The hawk at bottom had been perched on top of the pole when the second hawk flew in from the right and attacked. Here their talons are locked as they begin their long, spiraling fall to the ground.
I dislike naming wild birds but today I’m making an exception in an effort to make it easier to keep track of which bird is which. Even with names it won’t be easy because both young birds are about the same age, they look very much alike and once they’ve fallen to the ground vegetation often hides any identifying characteristics.
Notice the untattered almost perfect tail of the attacking hawk in comparison to the frazzled ends of the tail feathers on the bird that was originally on the pole. Based on tarsi thickness falconer Laura Culley believes that the bottom bird might be a male so I’m going to call him Samson. She also believes that the attacking bird is likely a female so I’ll refer to her as Delilah.
I felt I had to call them something…
This photo, taken less than 5 seconds after the previous one, is the first shot I got after the birds hit the ground. They seem to be still trying to figure out what happened and what to do next. I can tell from subsequent photos that Samson is on the left with Delilah on the right.
This photo makes me laugh out loud. With that intimidating look and posture Samson seems to be saying “How dare you! There’s going to be hell to pay” for that sneak attack.
So he laid into her.
Here we see Samson’s tattered tail as he rushes her and she goes over on her back defensively.
There were several times when I thought one of them was using its beak as a weapon instead of just its talons. This is one of them. After this shot was taken all I could see for a while was a furious flurry of feathers sticking up out of the grass while they duked it out.
Finally I could see one of their heads but the photo is such a mixed up jumble of body parts it isn’t easy to tell which body to assign the head to. But the tattered tail on the left belongs to Samson.
Twenty nine photos later it seems to be an even match but at this point I can’t tell for sure which bird is which although I believe that’s Samson on the left.
Suddenly he seems to gain the upper hand as Delilah turns over defensively on her back.
At this point where he had her pinned down he started looking around as if he was searching for a way to get himself out of this mess.
Instead he turned his attention back to Delilah and…
really laid into her.
But she recovered.
Sixty three photos later Samson is on the right. Delilah finally decided she’d had enough and broke away from him. She flapped her way through the weeds on the left for a couple of feet and then took off to the west, apparently uninjured.
Samson watched her leave and then a few seconds later took off to the northeast.
He landed on a second power pole that fed electricity to a nearby barn. We can tell it’s Samson by his beat up tail. He also appeared to have no serious injuries.
I hesitate to compare this experience to other spectacular encounters I’ve had with birds over the last 13 years but I keep thinking it might be the most memorable and exciting experience of them all. It was certainly the longest and most intense raptor fight I’ve ever witnessed. My heart was pounding, to the point that I was fearful that many of my most important photos would be soft (they weren’t). Buck fever isn’t a good thing to have when you’re shooting action with a super telephoto lens.
I was also surprised that both birds apparently escaped the brawl without serious injury. During the 13 minute brouhaha I kept thinking that after it was all over I’d find a dead or seriously injured hawk on the ground.
I was so very relieved when it didn’t turn out that way.
Ron
What an incredible series of photos! I’m glad both red-tailed hawks are not seriously injured. You are very talented. And you are also fortunate to have a chance to see it. Thanks for capturing these memorable moments. I appreciate that. Your blog becomes one of my favorites. I always look forward to your next post.
I enjoy your photo in my mailbox everyday and just want to say thank you. You do a fantastic job of describing their stories as well as taking superb photos, never baited… I love that!
Divorce is hell, isn’t it. 😀
An incredible series Ron! Thanks for sharing!
Charlotte Norton
Thank you, Charlotte.
I regularly check back with your blog to see your follower’s comments. Today I’m really glad I did, as I have been really impressed with the quality of them. I learn a lot, not only from regulars Laura Culley, Elephant’s Child, Dan Gleason, and others, but from occasional commenters, as well. Sometimes not only about birds. Not to mention, your photos demand repeated viewing.
I agree, Lyle – sometimes the comments are the best part. I’ve always thought that my readers are a huge part of what Feathered Photography has become.
What a glorious series of photos by a perceptive, gifted photographer! Some lucky juveniles have a strong red colorization in their tail feathers even before their first molt. Perhaps it accompanies a precocious maturity as well, and she’s already begun testing young males for the future. I hope both these gorgeous creatures survive and thrive. Thanks so much for permitting us to witness one of their adventures.
Thanks very much for clearing that up, Donna. And thank you for the kind words.
Wonder series. Your skill and artistry are more than evident to me. I so appreciate your pictures and prose. I see and learn things I don’t take the opportunity to do in real life. I always look forward to your next post.
Very good to know, Betty. Thank you.
Sorry to be late with this. My sleep schedule is all akimbo with the election and the added problem of an old dog dealing with dementia.
I keep forgetting to applaud you for being in the right place at the right time with the right camera and the ability to use it! Yes, I get the serendipity part of that, but EC and I would need to scrape our jaws off the ground after staring at the situation with our jaws dropped in the dirt 😉 And that applause is in addition to the DAMN WOW aspect! LOL!!
See what I mean about facial expressions? The experts got that WRONG. They might not have the same facial muscular structure that we have, but they still make it happen! Stink eye is a perfect example! You need to learn how to recognize that immediately. Otherwise, you can devolve down the food chain into prey and that’s never good when you’re hanging out with a predator! And we don’t have that many spare rungs on the ladder! Ignore stink eye at your peril.
Talking about sibling rivalry, that could very well be the case, even if those two juveniles are in the middle of migration and no relation whatsoever. IF I’m right about the suspected female being the aggressor, she would likely be the aggressor just because she’s a girl and the suspected male (higher probably of correct ID) is on the higher perch. I’ve been there with Jack and had to explain to him that his answer should ALWAYS be, “Yes dear!” The female had to knock him off the tall post and take him to the ground three times before he acquiesced to her superiority!
I noticed the frayed tail on the probable male yesterday but forgot to mention it. I think most of that just needs a good preening, but there’s also some damage there. Some birds take better care of their feathers and/or have more brutal survival challenges.
To answer JoAnne’s question, these two are both juveniles of this year so would be ROUGHLY the same age, probably not more than two months difference at the OUTSIDE fringes of possibility. They’ll both get their red tail following next summer’s molt, their first.
Finally, picture me delivering yet another standing ovation, one-legged despite teetering at the edges of gravity. As I’ve said before, it would be good to have wings, but alas, I’m only human 😉 You, my dear sir, are a couple of rungs above human in your photographic skills!
I always enjoy your comments, Laura. Sometimes I think I know where you’re going and then you take me somewhere else.
I was wondering if either of these two youngsters could have already molted once. Even though I realize that both are hatch year birds, to me the dorsal tail surface of the presumed female looks significantly redder than the tail of the male, though not as red as an adult.
Probably not, so I suspect it’s just individual variation if it’s there at all.
The western redtails seem to have more variation in color than the eastern birds (read SEEM) and that often includes the reddish tail variation. In the department that it’s always available that I’m wrong (read ALWAYS), I’m about 98.876% sure they’re both juveniles.
LOUD applause from me too.
And I would be proud to have my jaw in the dirt beside yours Laura. Very proud.
Count my jaw in the dirt as well!
Great series! So glad you got this to share before the bad weather arrived and kept you home. I always have to gaffaw when a person ignorantly states a comparison between human behavior killing another human to animal behavior ” Animals don’t kill their own kind”. I usually respond, “Animals will eat their own babies”. Life is hard out there!
Thanks, April. Sadly it looks like the weather will be poor for photography for quite a while now.
Even though I knew the outcome of this fracas, I still found myself holding my breath. There was an audible “whoosh” when Sam landed on that second pole. Thank goodness I can read faster than 13 minutes — I’m sure if I had been there, soft shots wouldn’t have been my only worry.
Marty, early in my photography career I wasn’t smart enough to take documentary “concluding” photos like that last one. I’m glad I finally got the message.
I’ve set the timer on my iPad for 13 minutes while I took a second, closer look each image (some several times), also re-reading your excellent narrative and the readers’ comments. (EC cracks me up every time.) That damn thing still hasn’t gone off! I cannot imagine how difficult, heart-pounding and anxiety-producing witnessing an extended event like this would have been (for me if not for you). [Timer just went off! Whew.] So, I’m *very* glad you caught the action, got all these spectacular photos, and have presented same in such vivid detail. Long may Sam and Dee live!
I like your timer idea, Chris.
For me there’s another way to look at it. I had one minute with these fighting hawks for each year I’ve been photographing birds – 13 each. It’s hard to imagine how long those 13 minutes seemed to the hawks.
Quite the “anniversary” gift! 😉
Simply. Superb.
And to think, it all began with: “It had been a slow morning for birds …”!!
That pretty much sums up why we go out the door before the sun rises. We just never know what Nature has in store for us.
Thank you again for sharing, Ron!
Yup, that morning was the epitome of going from one extreme to the other. Thanks, Wally.
This is an incredible series. IF I was lucky enough to see it, either I would have been watching in open mouthed amazement (forgetting the camera) OR my shots would have made marshmallow look like a high quality building material.
I am so glad that your experience and your skill triumphed. And very, very glad that neither appear to be seriously hurt – though I suspect they will ‘feel’ this encounter for days.
Yup, I expect both birds had some recovery time, EC. But that beats the hell out of the unpleasant and very possible alternatives with a fight like this one.
Truth.
Absolutely thrilling photos! Did not anticipate the locking talons!!! These two remind me of my brothers fighting when we were kids. Non-stop antagonization 🙂 Always the younger brother initiating the battles.
Thanks, Kathleen. I didn’t have a brother to pick on so my younger sister was my substitute – until someone else out of the family picked on her, then I seriously came to her defense. Go figure…
That sounds very, very familiar. My youngest brother picked fights. Fights he lost. So the other brothers would go round and ‘see to the victor’. And then they would come home and lay into the fight picking brother.
I had a friend in high school who would come to his brother’s defense even when he was acting like an absolute idiot and deserved some taking down. I never understood that but then I never had a brother.
OMG, Ron!!! What a series and Thank God a good ending with both Hawks appearing to be unharmed!! When I read your 2 previous posts, I had thought of Laura Culley & whether she had seen those posts. I knew she would love them & help with info about each. I am wondering now at what age male & female RTHs mate in light of the female attacking the male. Don’t think he’ll want her for a mate!!! LOL!!
Jo Ann, Laura doesn’t’ miss many of my red-tail posts, even when she’s recovering from a broken leg as she is now. And she almost always has something interesting to add.
The greatest interaction series I’ve ever seen and you nailed it..and a good ending…WOW I’m saving this one!!
Thanks very much, Jerry.
WOW! Amazing neither got seriously hurt in that exchange! 😲 GREAT series, Ron – I’d have had a blurred mess I’m sure! 😉 Also neat to be able to stop the action for later review – a flurry of feathers would have all one would really see just looking methinks……..😀
Blizzard time here……
Thank you, Judy. So far this morning we’ve only had a few minor snow flurries.
What an impressive photographic accomplishment you’ve made ! All these
years of practice gave you not only the technical chops, but also the”cool”
to stay with it to the end, even through tachycardia……I’m so glad that we got to see that both birds came through OK after such a monumental struggle.
I’m still wondering what had happened to “Sampson’s ” tail feathers– shredded
equally all of the way across the fan ?
Kris, in winter I see a lot of Bald Eagles with tail feathers that look like that from all the time they spend on the wet ice. But I have no explanation for the condition of Samson’s tail feathers.
Absolutely amazing. It’s hard to believe there weren’t more significant injuries, and it’s even harder to believe how good your photos are. What an experience!
Thank you, Shoreacres. I was amazed, in the entire series of many hundreds of photos I don’t remember seeing a single one that was soft, even with the flight shots near the pole. With me that NEVER happens…
What an amazing event to witness. I can definitely imagine your heart pounding as you photographed this. Maybe one or two of your followers who are more expert in raptor knowledge can elaborate on this? I don’t think you ever mentioned prey being involved, so you would have to guess that it is a territorial dispute. Or maybe it is a pre-mating thing like the Mallards beating up on the females prior to mating? But whatever it is something that I have never witnessed and we have lots of hawks of many kinds.
But most importantly a salute to you for such a remarkable job of action photography.
Thanks, Everett. My guess is that the fight was all about defense of hunting territory. But who knows…