I know that Scarlet Tanagers use chick-burr as an alarm call, though that may not be the only purpose of that call. Four hours of alarms seems excessive, though I suppose there could've been a hawk or owl snoozing nearby. Last year when the Taughannock peregrines just fledged, they landed pretty close to the trail and allowed fantastic eye-level views. Seems like they had not yet learned to be afraid of humans, and possibly yours was similar. When it flew towards the crow, perhaps it was just a function of the prevailing wind rather than an intentional direction.
Suan On Tue, Aug 2, 2022 at 8:02 PM <t...@ottcmail.com> wrote: > > Hi, > > (1) Scarlet Tanager: for over 4 hours this afternoon, a female scarlet > tanager chick-burred continuously (at least for the 90% of the time I was > outside) 20-25 times/minute, while actively (and successfully) feeding and > resting in small trees and shrubs. A few times I thought I might have heard > a second distant bird but am not certain, and no other tanager came close. > > Why would she behave so persistently in a way that would be so attractive to > potential predators? Scarlet tanagers breed here regularly but I don't > remember seeing/hearing this before. > > (2) Peregrine: at 7 pm this evening, a dozen barn swallows started twittering > loudly and persistently over a specific spot I couldn't really see, and soon > 7 crows noisily came in from the south in response. At that point a juvenile > peregrine flew overhead with the crows close behind. The falcon flew > beautifully and easily could evade them aerially, and threaten them when they > got too close, but eventually it landed in the top of a dead cottonwood tree. > The tree was at the bottom of a 60' cliff and I happened to be watching from > the top, so the bird was opposite me, maybe 40' away. At first it appeared > not to see me and even when it did, it showed no concern. It stood there for > ~30 seconds surveying the area, back horizontal, teetering in the gusty wind, > and then seemed to slip sideways. It used its wings and tail to somewhat > stabilize itself but then awkwardly slipped down to a slightly lower branch. > It lowered its head and seemed to grasp something with its beak - a toe? > something on the branch? - but slipped off that branch, too, and repeated the > exercise including the mouthing toward its feet on a third much smaller > branch. When it slipped/got blown off that branch, it circled around toward > the crows, who had sat quietly watching all this on a second bare tree close > by, and the entire company flew off around the point, and so I couldn't see > them anymore. The contrast between its ease in the air and its clumsiness in > the tree was striking. > > Ideas on what was happening? Is the peregrine ill-suited to perching on > branches and the young bird was learning that? Had it injured it's foot? > And why did it fly toward rather than away from the crows? > > Many thanks for your insights! Feel free to write to me and not the entire > list. > > Best - > > Alicia > > > > -- > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > Welcome and Basics > Rules and Information > Subscribe, Configuration and Leave > Archives: > The Mail Archive > Surfbirds > BirdingOnThe.Net > Please submit your observations to eBird! > -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
