I'll add my observation a couple of weekends ago at the Hoover Reservoir Boardwalk. I was walking back from the end of the boardwalk and noted that all the shorebirds were gone. Then I saw a Kestrel fly across the mudflats, so it's possible the falcon spooked off the birds on an earlier pass while I was looking through my scope, hoping for a Buff-breasted Sandpiper to pop out of the Killdeer in the grassy parts of the mudflats (almost needless to say, I did not have any luck). Andrew R. Sewell, MS, RPA Principal Investigator Historical/Industrial Archaeology Hardlines Design Company 4608 Indianola Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43214 ph. (614)-784-8733 fax (614)-784-9336 ________________________________ This mailbox protected from junk email by MailFrontier Desktop from MailFrontier, Inc. http://info.mailfrontier.com -----Original Message----- From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bill Whan Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 12:18 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [Ohio-birds] Do bald eagles capture healthy shorebirds? Jay Lehman's account of his birding at Mosquito brought up a question. Last weekend up there, I and a lot of other folks watched eagle after eagle lumber by, spooking up all the shorebirds, gulls, and terns every time. With so many birds present you have to work methodically through them, and a disturbance means you have to start over again. It's a nuisance for observers, but not much more than a nuisance for the birds, since none of the eagles paid much attention to them. In Ohio, many of these birds have very long journeys ahead of them, and I assume they do not waste energy fleeing predators unless there's a real threat. These birds can recognize one; I recall reading about research by Tinbergen indicating that nestling gulls seem to have inborn abilities to discriminate among avian predators as to which is a real danger. But how many readers have ever seen a bald eagle pursue and kill a healthy shorebird in these parts? I haven't, but maybe I've just never been around at the right time. Many times I've seen eagles that seem to be delighting in their ability to scatter smaller species, but never any serious or successful pursuit of shorebirds. Bald eagles are indeed powerful, but in flight not really a match for nimbler shorebirds. Many times I've watched falcons easily pluck dinner from a shorebird flock, but never an eagle. Among other waterbirds, falcons can zip a duck out of the air, but eagles are more likely to successfully chase a coot on its slow take-off...if they can't find a verrry slow-moving dead carp. That's my experience, but the shorebirds must know better, as they and other birds like gulls and terns routinely panic at the sight of a bald eagle. I've also seen them panic at the approach of a harrier, which may be a little more capable of catching one than an eagle, but not a major predator of shorebirds. What is your experience with red-tails? Kestrels? What have others observed? Is it only the migrant shorebirds, in unfamiliar territory with unfamiliar predators, that react in this way? Do eagles spook flocks of killdeers? Remember that a lot of shorebirds nest north of, and winter south of, the bald eagle's range. Have shorebirds yet to regain familiarity with bald eagles since their recovery from DDT poisoning? Just some food for thought. Please share pertinent observations. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]