Daylight robbery :)

Readers of The Times will have seen this sequence in today's edition (6th Feb 2009) but for the rest of you, the article and some images are here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5671377.ece

Also in Metro... but strangely a John Connor is credited with them

How odd. In the printed paper it says Damian Waters via an agency

Think I'd be more inclined to believe the Times, Metro also had loads of spelling mistakes etc this morning.

An interesting article and a scene that I have recently witnessed in Glos where kestrels have robbed the SEO's of their food.

Brian

Happens all the time even when the weather is good, most of the time though it will be Barn Owl that gets hounded. SE-Owls normally put up a better fight but lose out when they start stashing their catches, Magpies and Kestrels will watch were the Owl hides the vole and swoop down when the Owl carries on hunting.

I was out on Wednesday and watched a Barn Owl being hounded by 2 Magpies and 1 Kestrel, thankfully this Barn Owl had a big set of $%&*s and fought them off keeping his hard earned meal for himself...

The shots are by Damian Waters, he posted them originally on birdguides in the middle of Jan.
Cracking sequence!

Tony

For the last two summers I have been parking up 400 yards from a barn that is home to both kestrels and barn owls. Throughout the summer as both sets of parents seek to feed their young a regular pattern of bad behaviour develops. The kestrels work together to mug the returning barn owl of its prey. One will hover over the hunting owl much higher than a kestrel’s normal hovering height, they follow the hunting owl. The second bird will wait 3 or 4 hundred yards from the nest site on a post or down on the ground. Once the kill is made and the owl begins its return flight the kestrel flying top cover chases the owl and will if it get the opportunity rob the owl of its prey. Failing that the second kestrel will cut off the rout between the owl and the barn and the two kestrels then work together. Last year the owls lost 1 in 5 of their kills in this way. Getting decent pictures is all but impossible since the return flight can be from any direction in the 360 degrees around the barn and I can only cover about 90 from a fixed point. Perhaps luck will come my way this year .One interesting point is that since I usually park in the same place each time, the barn owls are not spooked by my presents, the kestrels are. Often it seems the barn owls will fly close to the car knowing that the kestrels wont. I hope this is of interest. Here are a few of the shots I have managed so far

Fascinating - well done

Thanks for posting Barrie, a very interesting thread on avian behaviour. Also thanks bob for your contribution, very informative.

As I said, a very interesting thread.

Yes, I've certainly seen kestrels do this to shorties recently.

I agree with Anthony that its standard practice for Kestrels, Jays and Magpies to rob Barn Owls (and SEOs too), I've seen this behaviour many times over many years, it's certainly not anything new! I have also seen a SEO rob a Barn Owl of its meal only this week.