Talk:Hawking (birds)

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References[edit]

Observations on Birds "Hawking" Insects. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v073n01/p0127-p0128.pdf
Gulls and terns hawking flying insects. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Wilson/v057n03/p0204-p0205.pdf

Marj (talk) 23:04, 4 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hummingbirds[edit]

Both mature, and very immature hummingbirds hawk, and do it easily because of their hovering ability. But (here in SWest Arizona) a small mayfly type (hundreds, or many tens in columns), provide a source. The very young often return quickly to a perch, but they also intercept gnat-types, that are basically unable to be seen by the naked-eye observer (because they are small birds, but the prey is very, very small in comparison).
Changing page status-assessment to START, and MID importance.
(The hummingbirds also glean spiders from tree branches, and the roof edges, building edges)
(Should this now be C-class, or B-class-?-Article-?)-(from HOT-desert, SonoranDesert, ArizonaUSAMmcannis (talk) 12:23, 11 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Flycatchers[edit]

Is the article developing into a piece about Flycatchers, rather than about 'hawking' which is one of the ways of taking insects that is used by a huge range of bird species? Marj (talk) 18:49, 11 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That's probably due to some bias on my part. I'm sure there is a lot more that could be said about all the many other birds (such as the ones pictured -- awesome photos, by the way!). I admit the paragraph about evolution seems like a tangent, but I felt it would be a curious omission to not mention the shared characteristics of the various unrelated flycatchers. Perhaps that concept could be condensed to a statement about adaptations and moved to the last section, perhaps without mentioning evolution. On the other hand, having mentioned that they share these characteristics and are not related, then it seems appropriate to back up that statement with some explanation and a source.--Brambleshire (talk) 04:41, 12 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What do you think of a section headed Insect Catching Behaviours where the information on the different methods including sustained-flight feeding is collected. Then a section on Flycatchers as a special case, then the Opportunistic Feeding which talks about the terns and other birds for who insects are a minor part of the diet, then the Adaptations section?? Marj (talk) 06:28, 13 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like a good idea to me. There is precedence for articles on behaviors to have sections referring to the behavior "in" different kinds of animals. Animal mobbing behavior is an example. On another note, regarding the section on Opportunistic Feeding, I think maybe I should not have used the word "supplemental". I wonder if it gives readers the notion that the behavior is uncommon? I think the main idea in that section should be that many birds have somewhat generalized feeding behavior, and will just as readily take prey from the air as from foliage or another surface, if the opportunity presents itself. So maybe that can be re-worded, too.--Brambleshire (talk) 18:23, 13 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I moved the tangential bit about the evolution of flycatchers down to the section now called Physical Adaptations, and I re-worded it so that it is not just about flycatchers but also mentions swifts and swallows.--Brambleshire (talk) 16:49, 2 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Bats[edit]

Hawking is also a feeding strategy of bats.[1] Seems like an important aspect of the topic, but the title "Hawking (birds)" also makes the article fairly exclusive and narrow. Is it possible to move the article to a more generic title? Hawking (predator adaptation) or something along those lines. -- Primium (talk) 18:32, 10 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]