# Why will a Hawk let a Mockingbird chase it?



## Lightninrod

There are two Redtail Hawks in and around our neighborhood.  Several times I've seen as few as one and as many as four Mockingbirds chase  one of them all over the sky.

I don't understand why such a powerful predator will allow a songbird to chase it.  Help me understand.


Dan


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## Rabbit Hunter 101

Good question, I have often wondered the same thing. Its kinda funny though to watch little mockingbirds bug a big ole hawk.


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## HighyellerLab

I'd imagine it's related to agility.  Raptors are designed to hunt by diving with speed and surprise.  They don't seem to do well with quick turns at slow speed.  Those mockingbirds are like little cobra gunships going after a jet that's not moving fast enough to manuever.  Just my 2 cents worth..Tge


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## hevishot

wish the dang things would eat the mocking birds and leave the quail alone....


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## dawg2

hevishot said:


> wish the dang things would eat the mocking birds and leave the quail alone....



Wishful thinking


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## Nicodemus

Kinda like us and gnats. Just something you get used to, and accept after a while.


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## fi8shmasty

Hawks can't catch them in open air,... however a surprise attack!!
 in a wooded area very successful!!!  and they also love to go to the nest and have baby bird snacks,...........


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## Lightninrod

Thanks y'all for all of the replies.


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## Randy

Unlike humans, most animals try and run from danger or a fight.  They only fight for mating reasons and self defense if fleeing is not possible.


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## whitetail3

i always notice that when they do that the mocking birds return to a nest close by.
so i assume that they are chasing him away.


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## Ol' Gobblero

Red Tails are not accipeters (bird eaters).  Not as agile as Kestrels, Cooper's hawks, or Sharp Shinned Hawks (which are designed to catch and eat birds in the air).  Red Tails will attack and eat non mobile birds and many ground dwellers such as quail.


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## saltysenior

i noticed thru the years,the smaller of two species is always the aggressor,and seems to be winning...


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## blakely

i always wondered if the hawk wasn't just leaving to get away from the noise - its hard to be stealthy while hunting with the mockingbirds raising such a fuss.


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## whitworth

*A few years ago a mocking bird*

kept dive bombing our cat in the front yard.  It soon became no-cat land.


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## JohnK3

LOL, whitworth.  I've seen my cats jump six feet in the air and catch birds in mid-flight.  A dive-bombing mockingbird would be feathers on the ground in my yard.

Oh, wait.  There's one out there right now in that condition.  [grin]


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## Twenty five ought six

Interesting semi-fact.

We've always had two cats, and for no apparent reason, one of them has been a tortoise shell.  When the tortoise shell goes out, the mocking birds go berserk, even though the cats are  no threats.  The other cats get a pass.

The other funny thing is that our present tortoise shell is stone deaf.  She will go out in the yard and lay down, and the mockingbirds will land right beside her and start raising Cain.  Of course, she can't hear them.  The birds will even come up and pull her hair, and she pays them no mind.  The show is quite entertaining.


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## dertiedawg

Maybe they are married and he is trying to get away from the nagging wife!


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## Vernon Holt

Lightninrod said:


> "*I don't understand why such a powerful predator will allow a songbird to chase it. Help me understand." Dan*


 
Same reason that a Poodle will chase a Black Bear.  

The Poodle is not aware that he is the underdog (neither does the Mocking Bird)


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## boz614

*Accipiters v. Buteos*



Ol' Gobblero said:


> Red Tails are not accipeters (bird eaters).  Not as agile as Kestrels, Cooper's hawks, or Sharp Shinned Hawks (which are designed to catch and eat birds in the air).  Red Tails will attack and eat non mobile birds and many ground dwellers such as quail.



I agree w/ Ol' Gobblero.  The diet of members of the Accipitridae family mainly consists of birds.  This family of birds, such as the Cooper's Hawk and Sharp Shinned Hawk, have short, narrow wings (similar to that of falcons like peregrines and kestrels, but a little broader and shorter compared to their body structure) and long tails, which make them very maneuverable while flying through the forests.  Buteos, such as Red-Tailed Hawks, have short, broad wings and short broad tails which they use to assist them as they use thermal "winds" to help lift them high in the air and soar.  This allows them to use these thermals to lift them high while using little energy to do so (law of conservation of energy).  The down side is this makes them less maneuverable and catching smaller, faster birds like mockingbirds more difficult and bordering impossible.  Like the others though, I wish they all would leave the unsuspecting "ground birds" such as quail alone!!!


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## Bass Buster

Well i always thought that if the bird takes out the little feathers in the wings of the hawk that help them turn and maneuver. Then the hawk might not survive.


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## hawgrider1200

Mockingbird has a bad taste to a redtail hawk they prefer a nice pigeon, or quail.


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## Cornelia_Hiker

Around here it's the crows that chase the hawks the same way


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## iwatmi

A coyote will back down from a grey fox in a small cage or dogbox. The fox acts like he's 10 feet tall, growling and snapping. I'm sure the coyote could whip the fox but he won't even try.


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## DCHunter

Cornelia_Hiker said:


> Around here it's the crows that chase the hawks the same way



Same around here. I've also seen blue jays doing the same to crows.


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## Nugefan

Vernon Holt said:


> Same reason that a Poodle will chase a Black Bear.
> 
> The Poodle is not aware that he is the underdog (neither does the Mocking Bird)



   



Cornelia_Hiker said:


> Around here it's the crows that chase the hawks the same way




around our place too .....


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## trimman

The hawk knows he is too slow to catch the mocking bird, besides he/she probably got the easy meal. Mocking bird eggs!


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## drippin' rock

Several people have touched on it here.  Crows and mockingbirds antagonize hawks because they can; not just during nesting season.  The hawks can't turn in mid-flight to attack, and the smaller birds, while annoying, can't hurt the hawks.


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## shakey gizzard

Its the boldest bird in the woods! Next is the blue jay!


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## DanBROWNING

they run because they dont want to chance loosing a eye, a blind or half blind hawk will soon starve to death, same reason they run from crows


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