I also asked in effect What is ‘large’? I am confident Steve Debus would be right. I have had a quick look through that 1986 article in ABW. Much of it concentrates
on how to identify the Hobby and distinguish them from Peregrine Falcons. We now have much better references on this issue. It is fair to accept their conclusion that many of the old reports of taking “larger” prey probably are actually of the Peregrine Falcons.
This may be contributed to by that an earlier Australian name for the Aust Hobby is “Duck Hawk” (e.g. Cayley), almost certainly a historical goof on that in other parts of the world (I suspect mainly USA), that - maybe unhelpful name Duck Hawk - applied to
the Peregrine Falcon (which does eat ducks). On my quick skim I maybe missed it but did not see that this article referred to confusion of names as contributor to the error. I think it likely relevant.
Philip
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Monday, 4 March, 2019 9:02 AM
To:
Subject: FW: [canberrabirds] Hobby vs Noisy Friarbird
Probably not in this case. I am reluctant to get involved in this anecdotal conversation, but I think we are at risk of textual confusion. What is ‘large’? I cannot find Steve’s reference but in my copy of BPA 2nd ed Debus
says ‘most prey weighs less than 100g, rarely more than 200g’. Crested pigeons are 145-260g (ABG). Crested Pigeons are within range, and from my observations are frequent raptor (esp hawks) prey around Canberra suburbs as they are prolific year-round breeders.
Young inept birds are easy prey.
HANZAB gives a long list of hobby prey items including Crested Pigeon, although the reference to ‘ducks’ is accompanied by ‘though see Czechura & Debus 1986’. That reference (Aust Bird Watcher 11: 185-207) is apparently a detailed discussion
of this subject as it is frequently cited in the food section. No doubt it includes reference to duck-chasing hobbies.
From: shorty <>
Sent: Sunday, 3 March 2019 7:49 PM
To: Steve Read <>
Cc: calyptorhynchus <>; Canberra Birds <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Hobby vs Noisy Friarbird
Interesting, Even Steve Debus can get it wrong.
On Sun, Mar 3, 2019 at 7:23 PM Steve Read <> wrote:
Thanks John. In regards to the Australian Hobby, Debus,
Birds of Prey of Australia says “often harasses large birds but is incapable of killing them”.
But my son Lach reminded me that we once saw a hobby with a freshly killed Crested Pigeon at the National Arboretum, which I reckon would be about twice the weight of a Noisy Friarbird.
Steve
From: calyptorhynchus <>
Sent: Sunday, 3 March 2019 6:43 PM
To: Canberra Birds <>
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Hobby vs Noisy Friarbird
I get the impression that sometimes Falcons chase birds that are too big for prey just as exercise. In the UK I saw a male Merlin (very small) chase a Blackbird all over a reedbed.
The Blackbird thought it was for real and was alarm calling away, but the Merlin didn't persist and gave up after a while.
On Sun, 3 Mar 2019 at 18:15, Steve Read <> wrote:
David Dedenczuk and I walked out to Yankee Hat this morning from the end of Old Boboyan Road (bird list at
https://ebird.org/australia/view/checklist/S53311021). We didn’t see any Hobby (but we had seen a pair earlier on Nass Road). We did see four Kestrel flying as a group, a Brown
Goshawk, a Brown Falcon (a very dark bird), two Wedge-tailed Eagle and two Swamp Harrier. The adult harrier was hassling one of the eagles, then one of the Kestrel joined in.
Shorty – seems as though you got the impression that the Hobby was treating the Noisy Friarbird as prey, and the picture certainly shows an attack. But I would have thought that
a friarbird was rather large prey for a Hobby – I’m more used to them catching grasshoppers and dragonflies…?
Regards
Steve
From: shorty <>
Sent: Sunday, 3 March 2019 6:02 PM
To: COG Chat <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Hobby vs Noisy Friarbird
After a visit to Mount Clear ( 6 Needletails seen ) I pulled into Old Boboyan Road for a quick look.
After going across the low level crossings i noticed a Hobby so pulled up and got out of the car to get some pics. It turned out there were 2 Hobbys and i watched them flying around
catching Grasshoppers often eating them on the fly. A Noisy Friarbird was calling from a perch in a nearby tree and soon took flight. A Hobby took off chasing the Friarbird and made contact but except for quite a few feathers lost the Hobby did not get his
prey. The Friarbird continued with the Hobby chasing it but the Friarbird made it to a tree just in time.
During this time i also saw 3 Wedge-tailed Eagle, 2 Brown Goshawk (chasing Starlings) and a Nankeen Kestrel swooping the now perched Brown Goshawk.
A quick stop at the Yankee Hat carpark there were Dusky and White-browed Woodswallow with young.
Due to distance not a good pic but include the point of impact shot.
