Scene of the assault, 8:30 on a cool August morning - Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, Colorado. Surprise Attack - 08-29-2024 Photos and text by Dave Parsons An alert black-tailed prairie dog - a potential witness and snack for the predator. Surrounded by munching prairie dogs, I slowly cranked up Mount Carbon on a clear, sunny morning. I glanced to the mountains in the west and saw a large hawk perched in a skeleton of a tree. Rolling to a stop, I pulled out the camera from behind the seat and zoomed into a Swainson’s Hawk perched near the top of a dead cottonwood tree, one of three trees standing in a row. Standing in the heart of a prairie dog colony I waited to see if the raptor swooped down on a unsuspecting cottontail or prairie dog. Her sharp eyes spotted something I had missed. Perched in the lower branches of a neighboring tree still covered in dark green leaves, her adversary remained hidden to my eyes. Focused on her target, she leapt off her branch into the cool morning air. Expecting to see her grab an unwitting prairie dog, surprisingly, she swooped down to the leafy tree's lower branches and with talons out, pounced on a unsuspecting Red-tailed Hawk camouflaged in the leaves. The Red-tail only had time to open his wings and then "Wham!" The high speed collision clipped an underwing feather which was sent airborne in the rapid attack. Standing in shocked surprise, I watched the white and brown feather drift to the ground as the victim's body spiraled to the earth. His spinning wings followed his body, falling through the air. The descent, only 10 feet off the ground seemed to slow as the hawk hit the ground. The downed raptor took a few moments to recover and flapped with trouble in the undergrowth. Finally, he took off towards the Bear Creek Lake to the north and away from his attacker. Hot in pursuit, the Swanison’s quickly circled around and tailed her target, repeatedly diving and strafing him from above with outstretched legs and talons. Flying low over the prairie grasses, the Red-tailed gradually distanced himself, escaping more wrath as he continued to fly low over the trees and lake. The Swainson’s, sensing her message was sent, broke off the attack and returned, clumsily landing on her perch overlooking the prairie dog town.   The juvenile light-morph Swainson's Hawk, returned to her perch, landing poorly with wings flailing after chasing off her competitor. In rapt attention, the confrontation only took seconds. After years of watching raptors it's the first time I had witnessed such an encounter. In Alaska, groups of Bald Eagles will scrap and tussle over fish, but this was a much different pair of species and different setting. Apparently, the Swainson’s didn’t want any competition while hunting for breakfast during the cool morning. The attack was unexpected, especially seeing a Red-tail fall to the ground as if shot. It was not playful or sibling rivalry. I have watched plenty of hawks hunt and kill smaller birds with a life ending Determined to interfere with her meal, a small American Kestrel dives and harasses a much larger Red-tailed Hawk over Red Rocks Park. poof of feathers and continually harass each other, especially when carrying a potential meal. Just nearby in the foothills at Reds Rocks Park, a gutsy and much smaller American Kestrel harassed a much larger Red-tail. As the Red-tail flew with a green racer snake grasped in her talons, the kestrel continuously screeched while dive bombing and circling her. In the Bear Creek area, perches are limited near the prairie dog colonies and hawks and kestrels in the area will often swoop down over each others preferred perch like an annoying fly buzzing overhead. But, to actually collide with another large or equal sized target was new. This was more of an emphasized message stating, "get out of my hunting grounds." This area has been an exceptionally busy hunting ground this year, especially as nearby housing construction increases and consumes much of the open space once available. Perhaps the confrontation was a sign of the growing pressure of fewer hunting areas and shrinking habitats. Likewise, watching the bird traffic in the area during the past spring and summer months, many pairs of hawks have been swooping and diving next to each other as mates and family members, and even at times locking talons with each other and spiraling through the air. But this behavior was quite aggressive and perhaps a bit jarring for both involved. Avoiding further confrontation, the Red-tailed Hawk makes a bee-line to the north. Rolling my bike into the weeds off the trail, I walked through the barking prairie dogs curious about the collision and why the Red-tailed spiraled to the ground like a downed fighter jet. Walking through the dry grass and crunchy snakeweed, I pictured in my mind the Swainson’s knocking him off his perch. Perhaps she also got a quick hold of his wing preventing him from a successful take off. He was probably as surprised as I was of the seemingly unprovoked aggression. Only one feather drifted down after the attack. Could have been worse. After the Swainson’s took off towards the west, I walked down to the assault crime scene, and found the clipped white and brown feather hanging from the leaves of a wild rose bush a few yards from the base of the cottonwood. The sharp beak or raking talon of the Swainson’s could have snipped off the feather tip of an outstretched wing. Taking a few photos and observing the obscured sight lines from the attacker's tree, I retrieved the feather and backtracked through the spiny growth of rose bushes and green grass under the shade of the tree while again passing through the numerous alert calls of chirping prairie dogs. There was no visible blood or any other evidence I could see, but perhaps the feather's owner was possibly the Swainson's, who managed to get clipped after colliding with the Red-tail? Hopefully, both came through uninjured and the short moment was likely quickly forgotten as they continued to focus on their hunting, however the interaction spurred my curiosity and appreciation of such intense and focused predators.     Evidence of the attack, the clipped Red-tailed feather snagged in the leaves of a wild rose bush and grass - or is it a Swainson's feather?

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