Photo by Sherry McCartney

Shorties never really look much concerned by anything. They just stare directly into the camera like they’re the Jim Halpert of the owl world…

  • natural_motions@lemmynsfw.com
    15·
    3 months ago

    Those little goons aggro easy. Any time you walk by a field where they’re nesting they start circling you and squeaking and making a ruckus.

    • anon6789@lemmy.world
      OP
      14·
      3 months ago

      The wiki article about them makes them sound like a giant gang. It says packs of males basically patrol around together looking for other animals to get into fights with.

      It also said only the males are the black ones with the flashy wings. The lady blackbirds just look like some random brown bird. I hadn’t known that before.

  • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de
    5·
    3 months ago

    It was likely woken up by a one or more small birds who don’t appreciate the predator sleeping close to their nests. They make a ruckus and peck at the sleepy owl, who flies some distance away and tries to sleep again but there might be some following it and alerting local ones so it needs to find another spot. I have witnessed this behavior and it’s rather funny. If you hear an unusually loud bird cacophony and see them gathering around a spot, look if an owl flies out of there.

    • anon6789@lemmy.world
      OP
      2·
      2 months ago

      I usually see this behavior referred to as “mobbing.”

      It is often used to locate these birds of prey, who try their best to stay hidden. For wildlife researchers and photographers, it’s almost like having a camera network all over the outdoors to alert them when these animals get spotted. It also brings out the other rare birds as well.

      The behavior itself is very unique in the animal world as it demonstrates cooperation between different species.

      Mobbing isn’t considered an attempt to hurt or kill the target of the swarm, because an actual fight wouldn’t benefit either side, as birds are very delicate generally, so any small injury could mean the end for any of them. It’s mainly just to move them along so they don’t have an opportunity to snatch anyone up.