Hello Don,
Yes Cockatoos are known to do this sort of thing sometimes. Or that is
to say Galahs and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos sometimes indulge in chasing
or shadowing in flight of raptors such as Brown Goshawks and Australian
Hobbies. Probably other people will tell you observations about other
species that do this. Of course many parrots are prey to many raptors. I
don't know that the parrots that harass raptors do it to the species
combinations that they may be at danger from. It does suggest to me
though that Galahs who often do this to Australian Hobbies and it as far
as I know not with Peregrine Falcons, that are a major predator, that
are able to distinguish the two species. Although I may be quite wrong
and that may just be that this is what I have seen or read about.
You have a curious renaming there. "Glossy-black Cockatoo" would totally
change the character of the name and suggested affinities of the bird.
That spelling would indicate that the bird is closer to the other
(white) cockatoos and not a member of the Black-Cockatoo group. It would
suggest the black is described as glossy. The actual name is a Glossy
Black-Cockatoo, which indicates it is a member of the Black-Cockatoo
group. Although how it became known as Glossy is a mystery to me.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Donald G.
Kimball
Sent: Wednesday, 19 October 2011 4:33 AM
To:
Subject: Parrots that harass raptors
When I was in Aus filming on my very last day of my 6 month parrot
filming adventure in February of 2009 I still needed one more species to
have filmed all Aussie Parrots (except for Night Parrot.. grin) My last
was in the Blue Mountains - Glossy-black Cockatoo.
I was about to leave the Tablelands Road area near Wentworth where I had
been searching for 3 days when I heard some throaty cries coming from
way way up in the air. Barely recognizable because they were just
specks in the sky, there were at least 2 Glossies chasing a large raptor
(too far away to identify it). They seemed bent on harassing and kept
repeatedly swooping at it and giving chase. The raptor seemed unnerved
at times and it appeared like they ushered it out of the area.
Fortunately for me once it left they spiraled down and then presented
themselves to be filmed!
Has anyone else witnessed parrots harassing raptors? I had no idea that
they did this and it seemed a bit suicidal to me at the time!
Cheers!
Don Kimball
http://polytelismedia.wordpress.com/
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