A Hawk (Red-tailed Hawk?) attacked the Sandhill Crane family at the Indian River Club but was thwarted by enraged Mockingbirds that mobbed the Hawk into fleeing the area before any harm was done. Here a Mockingbird goes after the Hawk.
The Sandhill Crane family, two adults with two colts, goes into terrified defense mode as the Hawk swooped down on them a number of times.
The Hawk flees with a Mockingbird in hot pursuit.
Note the large size differential between the pursuing Mockingbird and the Hawk.
The Sandhill Crane family was noticeably relaxed after the Hawk fled the area.
Today’s visit to the Indian River Club was a combination of Jay Watch, to take care of the last Florida Scrub-Jay monitoring session there for the season, and the monthly bird count. Thank you to Joe Carroll, Roz James, and Susan Boyd for letting me tag along.
Categories: Nature
Range Tracking 
Great action shots and lovely Cranes 🙂
No crane no gain!
Beautifully illustrated
Our baby was taken by a hawk this morning
It was devastating to watch and we are forever scared by the event
Even thou it’s natural it’s still devistating to watch
Sadly, our neighborhood family of four Sandhill Cranes suffered a mysterious loss recently and they are now down to three with the disappearance of one of the juveniles. Nature can be inexplicably beautiful and cruel as we all know.