About a week ago, my friend Kriss Koff and I went up to Pawnee Grasslands.
Nothing out of the ordinary but we saw some interesting behavior. We were on
the bird trail dirt road [which has all the signs and numbers]. We saw a
McCown's Longspur up ahead diving. We pulled up sort of near the bird and saw
it continuing to dive towards the ground. The culprit was a Thirteen-lined
Ground Squirrel which was being dive bombed by the Longspur. This went on for
at least 7 minutes, with the Longspur coming down from the sky, with legs
extended and a couple of times, the bird physically hit the back of the
Squirrel. I knew this was because of a nest nearby, most likely. The squirrel
each time, ran toward a specific bush, and this triggered the bird to dive at
it, and then the squirrel would run back to it's hole, then it would run back
up to that specific bush and the Longspur would again dive at the mammal.
Eventually the F. Longspur came out of the bush for just a few seconds, and
then flew back into the bush. There was alot of diving by the McCown's and
running back and forth by the squirrel. We left feeling sad about the
possibility[a large possibility], that the squirrel might end up eating the
chicks or eggs. What goes on with prey and predators, that we , may not see at
times ? Tina JonesLittleton,Jefferson County, CO
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