Hawks vs drones

October 11, 2014 • 12:26 pm

by Matthew Cobb

Here are two dramatic videos of hawks responding to drones, and one of them taking on bigger prey.

In the first, a red-tailed hawk attacks a drone equipped with a camera operated by Chris Schmidt. The incident took place at a park in Massachusetts on Wednesday. Neither the bird nor the drone was damaged.

In the second, YouTube user “womackke” decided to take a peek at what looks like some kind of eagle’s nest (sorry for the incomplete ID—please feel free to correct me!) in his local park. The avian inhabitants were not impressed.

Finally, Adam Fisher posted this video of a hawk attacking his 4-meter wingspan glider! (The action begins at around 1:25)

Those are some tough birds!

 

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17 thoughts on “Hawks vs drones”

  1. The birds in the second video are ospreys. This harrassment of nests is disgraceful and should not be permitted. The only year that the bald eagles failed to reproduce here was because some bozo buzzed their nest repeatedly in a ultralight.

    1. I agree on the osprey ID and the comments on harassment.

      The first bird is, I think, a red-tailed hawk. Not sure.

      The third is certainly a black-shouldered kite. Funny that a mouse hunter like that would attack a glider.

  2. Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey, Black-shouldered Kite.

    The photographer should NOT have taken his drone near the Osprey nest. Osprey are relatively delicate fish eaters. At some times during the nesting cycle, the disturbance could lead to abandonment of the nest.

  3. Shameful!
    The feds would also not be impressed!
    Nor am I. Please don’t post this type of harassment of wildlife without some explanation/disclaimer.

  4. I see that others already commented on the osprey identification. And I wanted to second the point about not harassing nesting birds. That’s terribly irresponsible and I would suggest removing the link to the video or at least adding a proviso about how unethical such harassment is!

  5. Wow,that drone harrassment of the Ospreys was surprising and upsetting. I was also concerned that hawks could be harmed by propeller blades when they strike but a quick google search seems to indicate the hawks are winning dramatically and I couldn’t find any reference to a hawk being injured. The harrassment is unconscionable though.

  7. & yep, I’d love to be there when Fish & Wildlife comes knocking on the author of the second video’s door.

  8. Generally speaking fliers at organized clubs are careful not to harass birds, particularly nesting raptors. It is not unusual to see hawks and eagles circling in the same thermal with gliders.

  9. A few mates and I once decided to have a boomerang building competition, and went to the local park to test them out. This got the attention of a falcon which eagerly attacked the boomerangs much to our amusement. I eventually decided it was an Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis), after initially thinking it was a Peregrine! The two are often confused according to my research. I say attack, but maybe it was defending the area.

  10. The Black-shouldered kite seemed to strike repeatedly at about the same spot on the wing. I wonder if there was a marking or reflection there that looked edible or annoying? – the glider itself was not in the size range of prey or competitors, obviously.

    1. It is quite common to observe large birds of prey being mobbed by smaller birds including by smaller birds of prey. I’d suggest that that is what is going on here – the Black Shouldered Kite is interpreting the glider as a big, potentially threatening raptor and is trying to shoo it away.

  11. Thanks, Jerry, for unveiling ISIS secret weapon. Given that training hawks is a specialty of the Levant, I’ll expect soon hawks/ospreys to be delivered to the front lines for use against US drones.

  14. Re harassment of osprey nests, the poster has this to say about it:

    I was at the park and noticed there was a huge birds nest so I flew up to take a look. To my surprise the bird flew at me. The bird was not hurt and I didnt do this again after seeing their response. This tree is so tall that from the ground you cant really tell if there is a bird in the nest or not. I still visit the park and the birds are doing great.

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