David vs. Goliath, the Avian Version

When scientist Pat Gaines heard a scream of a hawk while at Bonny Lake State Park in the Colorado and Kansas border, he looked up to see this amazing spectacle: a kingbird relentlessly attacking a red-tailed hawk several times its size!

Gaines had focused his camera on one red-tailed hawk because the bird had been screaming. As he followed the hawk across the sky, a kingbird dive-bombed the hawk.

The hawk, which is not a predator of the kingbird, flew as fast as it could from the kingbird. For a moment it appeared the kingbird had stopped attacking. But then it began the pursuit again and — to Gaines amazement — landed on the hapless red-tail's back.

"He rode the hawk for 25 yards. The hawk was not trying to fight back — it was just trying to get out of there," said Gaines.

As the kingbird rode bareback on the hawk, it pecked away at the hawk's head.

"They (the kingbirds) are not afraid of anything," said Gaines. "Until this happened, I had never seen one perch on a hawk's back."

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.


Comments (10)

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Newest 5 Comments

I grew up in Oklahoma and saw song birds harass many a red tail hawk out of the area. The small birds are so much more manueverable than the big hawks they can get away with it.
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Here we have mocking birds that harass, dive-bomb, etc. the blackbirds, who in turn harass, dive-bomb, etc. the redtail hawk.

Quite a show!
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earl, remember the Chinese half pint village? Well not only are they in charge of putting the cotton in the medicine bottles (tiny fingers are a plus for that) But they make those saddle too!
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Kind of neat but not mean spirited enough. ;P Its far more enjoyable to poke fun at other peoples failed craft attempts than blogging about your own.
Someone out there needs to do an ETSYfail site. I've seen so many horrible crafts that should be mocked (if only to humble the owners on the outrageous prices they THINK their mess is worth). Maybe throw in a Dirtydouble section for people who rip off the ideas of others in ETSY as well,because that's a real fail.
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hmm, recently, all neatorama comments and permalink pages are giving me an error. I wonder if it's because I just got IE8... (but i'm not experiencing this on other pages.) odd...
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Yes, it just didn't have the same oomph as something like that cake-wrecks site. Reading through a few of them, it had an awful narcissistic tone - "even my failures are fascinating".
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@ VideoGameDork - I experienced same issues. I emailed Alex about it. He said it should be fixed. :)

I love that blog. I have had a few craft fails. And I do love how people mock their own failures. I will most likely be submitting stuff, the next time I make soap.
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