Mobbing

["martin butterfield" <>]

While driving back from Captain's Flat around 1pm this afternoon (31 March) I noticed a huge swirling mob of birds with a dark spot in the middle.  My first thought was that they were starlings mobbing a kestrel, but on pulling over to get a good look the event was a good bit further away and thus the birds were larger.  It turned out to be a flock of at least 100 Little ravens mobbing an immature Wedge-tailed eagle.  The eagle sored higher and higher with the mob gradually losing interest.  A second wedgetail then appeared from the same direction - perhaps  they had been enjoying a rabbit together - but could only attract one attacker.

 

Apart from being enjoyable and spectacular, the event did prove an old cartographic adage: any event of interest takes place at the point of junction of four map sheets.  My GPS reading put our position just in grid cell S17.  However depending upon exactly the distance and direction to where the birds were first located they could have been in R17, R18, S17 or S18.

 

I've logged an incidental record with  few nsummarising notes.

 

Martin