I had almost exactly the same at my home (Kambah) last week. I watched one Hobby as it was calling and harassing an active nest of
Pied Currawongs. Actually I identified the Hobby call before seeing the bird. The latter resisted, chasing it around, however the Hobby was easily able to outfly them in
speed and manoeuvrability. This is about 100 metres from my home. It broke this off briefly to fly directly at the tree in my back yard which is directly over my Hills Hoist (where I was hanging out the clothes at the time), that has Ravens currently nesting
in it. Ravens defended the tree and the Hobby returned after one circuit, to bother the Currawongs again. About 10 minutes later it was gone and I have not seen it again. Back in July I watched a pair of Hobbies here behave similarly around a different unoccupied
Raven’s nest. This time however I did not see a second one, though I suspect it was perched unseen nearby. This is usually pair behaviour.
Philip
From: Sue Beatty [
Sent: Monday, 8 October, 2018 8:31 AM
To: 'canberrabirds chatline'
Subject: [canberrabirds] Hobbies? attempting to nest
Hi All,
Heard the rapid “kee kee kee” of a raptor at my place this morning amid a big racket of Pied Currawongs. On investigation saw the birds high in neighbours eucalypt - the tallest tree in Fossey St, Holder. Looks as though the raptors might
have been thinking of taking over an old nest at the top of the tree but were monstered and outnumbered by about 10 Currawongs. They were moving fast, but I saw pointed wings and dark stripes on tail so probably Hobbies?
Will try to get a better look if they try again.
Cheers,
Sue
