Yesterday afternoon, the pigeons and doves had started to gather for evening feeding. I was relaxing in the sunshine out of the icy wind, upstairs on the deck. Suddenly every bird rose from its perch as one, from branches, rooftops, walls and telephone poles. They scattered in every direction, not forming a flock, and the banking and swooping of their flight indicated extreme panic. I knew immediately that a raptor was on its way and scanned the sky for the cause of all the commotion. Sure enough, there it came - the black sparrowhawk, wings neatly folded to give it optimum speed as it came out of nowhere.
As the birds scattered, its wings spread and it changed direction, having selected the most likely victim, no doubt. Unfortunately they all disappeared from view behind the house, but the hunt was unsuccessful, as the sparrowhawk soon landed on the uppermost branch of the big gum tree at the top of the garden. I was able to get a good view with binoculars and it seemed to be a teenager, with a few white feathers still on top of the head but otherwise in adult plumage, with a blue ring on the left leg. No pigeons came back to the area, and they could be seen flying randomly in small groups to keep up the confusion. The sparrowhawk eventually left in disgust.
I wondered if the simultaneous startled flight of all the birds was in any way connected to the inborn mechanism which allows them to flock in such perfect unison when they want to, similar to the way fish shoal, and whether it only needs one bird to be alert and the others automatically respond. Any ideas?
No comments:
Post a Comment