![]() The signature red tail of a Red-tailed Hawk in flight They are commonly seen throughout Southern California, from the coastline to the desert, and in both wild and urban areas. It is also one of the easiest birds of prey to identify thanks to its signature red tail, though sometimes the tail does have a grayish tone. One of the most common hawks in Southern California is the Red-tailed Hawk. Red-Tailed Hawk Darker morphed Red-tail Hawk 8 Hawks in Southern California and How to Identify Them 1. Here is our full guide to all 34 California birds of prey. I have also included lots of pictures and distinguishing characteristics to help you identify these incredible birds. Here are eight hawks in Southern California that you might spy when hiking, camping, or simply walking your neihgborhood. These special birds are truly wonderous to watch, and an important part of our ecosystem. I have been a huge fan of identifying birds of prey ever since I took a class on Captive Raptor Management at UC Davis many moons ago. If you have recently seen a magnificent bird of prey soaring above you and wondered what it was, I am here to help! 1809 doi: 10.1098/ up! There are lots of hawks in Southern California, and spotting one is always a thrill. Crying wolf to a predator: deceptive vocal mimicry by a bird protecting young. This study is the first to show that birds use vocal mimicry to scare predators.īranislav Igic et al. It’s perhaps the thornbills best nest defence in this circumstance because physical attacks on the much larger currawong are hopeless,” Dr Igic said. “Distracting a currawong attacking the nest could give older thornbill nestlings a chance to escape and hide in the surrounding vegetation. They also found that the currawongs delayed attacks for twice as long when mimetic and non-mimetic alarm calls were played together as opposed to non-mimetic calls played alone. They found that the thornbills used their own and mimicked hawk alarm calls when their nests are under attack. The scientists devised a series of experiments in which they placed stuffed currawongs in front of thornbill nests to test when thornbills use such trickery, followed by experiments testing how currawongs respond to the calls of thornbills. “As hawks are silent when hunting, the alarm calls of local species may be the only sound that warns of a hawk’s presence,” McLachlan said.ĭr Igic, McLachlan and their colleagues from the Australian National University studied thornbills and currawongs living in and around the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. While animals often mimic dangerous or toxic species to deter predators, the brown thornbill is a surprising example of a species mimicking another harmless species to trick a predator. “The enormous size difference between a tiny thornbill and a 0.5 kg goshawk might make it difficult for brown thornbills to mimic hawk vocalizations accurately, limiting them to mimicking the chorus of hawk alarm calls given by small local species instead,” said co-author Jessica McLachlan of the University of Cambridge. Although currawongs normally benefit from listening in on hawk alarm calls of other species, thornbills exploit this and turn it against them.Īs well as issuing their own hawk alarm call, brown thornbills mimic those of the local species to create the impression of an impending hawk attack, which in turn distracts the pied currawong – a predator 40 times larger than the thornbill – providing thornbill nestlings with an opportunity to escape. Pied currawongs ( Strepera graculina), which raid the nests and hunt the chicks of brown thornbills, are also prey to goshawks. ![]() ![]() I soon realized that the brown thornbill was mimicking the other species, and we later discovered that they sometimes lie about the type of predator present when defending their nests,” said senior author Prof Robert Magrath, also from the Australian National University. “I was puzzled because I could hear the alarm calls of robins, honeyeaters and rosellas, but I couldn’t see any. “It’s not superbly accurate mimicry, but it’s enough to fool the predator,” said Dr Branislav Igic of the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, lead author on the study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The brown thornbill ( Acanthiza pusilla). ![]()
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