Mariposa's only daily updated online newspaper
Mariposa's only daily updated online newspaper
Aerial Combat in the B1-RD World - By Linda Gast
 The hawk climbs for altitude |
When people say that man is the only animal that goes to war maybe they should check out the
bird world.
More than once I have seen smaller birds diving at hawks to drive them from their "homeland".
I was recently privileged to catch some photos of an air battle of a trio of top wings. Coming
home from Merced on Highway 140 I spotted a Mariposa hawk on a pole near the Merced/Mariposa county line.. Naturally I had
to get a photo. Before I even got out of the car two Merced crows strafed the hawk . The hawk did a carrier launch off
the pole and climbed for altitude.
What ensued was nothing less than the great air battle of Mariposa. The hawk took off with the
crows diving from both sides. It made evasive maneuvers to no avail. It dove and did wingovers with the crows on his
tail. There were times one of the crows seemed to be inflicting direct hits with it's beak but the hawk did a last minute
climb into afterburner. After 15 minutes the hawk was able to do the Pugachev"s Cobra stall and elude the crows who flew
right on by. The crows realized they were outgunned and headed back for Merced County. The hawk was off, making a perfect
two point STOL (Short Take Off & Landing) carrier landing on a post further up the highway in Mariposa County.
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