I was asked by a friend the other day about something she saw while out on a walk. Unfortunately it happened quite far away so she couldn't identify the birds, but I thought it might be interesting anyway. She saw a large bird being attacked by a much smaller bird of prey, who kept attacking the larger bird as it tried to fly away. Eventually the bigger bird did get away, but the smaller one looked like it wanted to bring it down.

Do you think the bird of prey was actually trying to prey on the much larger bird? Or was it defending territory? It's a shame we won't know what type the bigger bird is, but whatever happened it looks like it had a lucky escape.

You could be right about defending the territory Bill as we have seen the crows attacking a heron as it flew in their 'airspace' in the last couple of weeks.

This post was last modified: 30-05-2008 12:05 PM by tibbar.

Yes its definitely a possibility. Animals being of territorial nature will most likely attack anything that threatens 'their space' or family even if it means taking on something alot bigger than themselves

I think as others have said the most likely case is the smaller bird was defending its territory. The bigger bird may well have been a bird of prey, but probably decided to try for an easier meal!