Re: The absurdity, the absurdity (was: Cooperating theropods?)

["Matthew Troutman" <m_troutman@hotmail.com>]

>>anyway, some people on this list had to bend over backwards 
>>to find *any* hunting cooperation among birds.  
>
>Maybe because folks on the list aren't ornithologists?  Possibly? 
>Maybe?  Grab a bird guy and see how tough it is to find the example
>you're talking about.


     Many birds hunt cooperatively. The Harris hawk is the foremost 
example of this. The kea, a carnivorous parrot, congregates in massive 
mobs and surround weak or dying sheep and kill them. A few keas can even 
hunt, hawk-like, killing healthy sheep and in great mobs. 

Though its not technically hunting, many small songbirds have been known 
to swarm hawks and crows. One group of this sort hit a kestral falcon so 
hard and that it got plunged into water and drowned while the birds 
pecked its eyes out ( sounds like _ The Birds _. ) I have seen an 
instance where a mob of blue jays cooperatively pecked at a juvenile 
Cooper's hawk. They were on a tree, disturbed at the hawks presense, and 
they would tempt the hawk to go one way after one bird so another bird 
had the chance to peck at the back of the hawk's head. 

MattTroutman

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