![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/2RedTailedHawksSpruceFeatherFlyingBlueJayonNaturalCrooksDotCom.jpg\")
<\/a>\nIf you look closely you’ll see some white feathers floating above these hawks, courtesy of the Blue Jay.<\/em><\/p>\n
Blue Jays Gang Up on the Raptors<\/h2>\n
I might not even have noticed this pair of Red-tailed Hawks taking a breather at the top of a mature spruce tree if it hadn’t been for a group of six or seven Blue Jays. The Jays had made it their personal mission to ensure neither raptor had a moment’s rest or peace. Looking up at the source of all the racket, I saw a Blue Jay actually strike the Red Tailed and pull some feathers loose.<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, in another second, the first Red Tailed lifted off and sailed away down the valley. In another minute, the second also gave up and flew.<\/p>\n While I was trying to get a non-fuzzy photo of the resident Mourning Warbler male at Riverwood, I heard more screaming jays and several shadows fell across my path. Looking up through my lens, I took some quick photos of the Red Tailed Hawk once more under attack. It tried to land in a tangle of branches to possibly deter the Jays from getting too close but soon gave up that strategy and flew in a few circles, mewing plaintively.<\/p>\n When I was flipping through the photos at the end of the day, I was surprised to notice a red spot near the Red Tailed’s head. At first I thought it was light reflecting from an eye, but then I saw it was on top of the “blue jays” head.<\/p>\n That’s when I looked closer at the birds mobbing the raptor. The two in these photos were not jays. They had a white band across the end of their tail feathers, and grey backs with a darker cap: They were Eastern Kingbirds. The red patch at the top of their heads is usually hidden but at times like this, they raise the feathers in an aggressive display.<\/p>\n I enjoyed watching the aerial display but I did feel a bit sorry for the hawk. I know how tired I get of pesky things flying at me when all I want to do is relax. I hope it found a quiet perch eventually.<\/p>\n Related Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n Join In<\/strong><\/p>\n Have you seen an Eastern Kingbird flash its hidden red patch at an intruder? Please share your sighting with a comment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Who will win in this battle of the Jays and the Raptors? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[25,385,437,218],"class_list":["post-4886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","tag-birds","tag-blue-jay","tag-eastern-kingbird","tag-red-tailed-hawk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4886"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8427,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions\/8427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalcrooks.com\/rambles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
\nNotice the jay in hot pursuit.<\/em><\/p>\nWhat’s That Flash of Crimson Red Near This Red Tailed Hawk’s Head?<\/h2>\n
<\/a>
\n(You can click on these photos to enlarge them a bit.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThere are three birds in this photo.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThree here, too.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nYou can see the red spot more obviously (if fuzzily) here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\n And three here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nHere comes a Blue Jay for me to compare with the two Kingbirds.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThe Blue Jay is actually upside down in this photo.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThe Jay comes out of its roll onto its side, still flying.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nThree birds here, too, if you look closely.<\/em>
\n<\/a>
\n Only two here.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n