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The Flying Calottes and the Goshawk The following narration is hard to believe if you haven't seen it yourself. On the 12.11.16 I started my 11 calottes at 11 o'clock. After around 15 minutes I perceived a goshawk flying very high above the calottes (from my perspective he looked as big as a starling). It was a goshawk, no peregrine falcon! He flew about 10 minutes above the calottes and then started his attack, which he interrupted twice. Now he wasn't that high anymore and the crows became aware of him and protected the pigeons. At 12:04 the goshawk attacked the calottes for the seventh time, 3 times from up above and 4 times from the side. Unfortunately the crows were only there for 3 attacks. At 12:16 10 calottes landed and came straight to the pigeonry, the 11th calotte came back around 14pm. All 11 were not injured, they received a separate feeding, I doubt they knew why. I am in the flying pigeon sport for 21 years now but I have never seen such a long attack from a predatory bird. I am VERY happy that he was unsuccessful and I hope he was quite tired. My calottes were all healthy and that was the most important thing! On the 19.11.16 the goshawk attacked the pigeons again. This time he attacked the pigeons "only" 2 times from the side and then he probably lost the energy. After 26 minutes the calottes were safe and sound in the pigeonry. VERY GOOD!! For me carrion crows (corvus corone corone) are a blessing. They have saved the life of many a pigeon. Because of this I always feed them when the calottes have finished their flight. This way they learned that when the pigeons are flying there will be food soon. They stay near when the calottes are flying and can act quickly when the goshawk appears. Walter Stettler CH Binningen www.flugtippler.ch |