I was watching a soaring Broad-winged Hawk over my house last weekend. As it soared it began going into a series of quick dives. On one of the dives I saw it reach out and grab a small winged creature. It was hard to tell exactly what it grabbed due to the speed, backlighting, etc., but it did not appear to be a bird (no struggle/feathers). I'm assuming this was a migrating butterfly. Has anyone else witnessed predation of this type by a buteo? I'm curious. Ryan Wirtes Bethlehem

Broad-winged Hawks eat a number of insects, though hunting them on the wing is not usual. Probably a target of opportunity. Might have been a dragonfly if not a butterfly, possibly even flying ants since it is the season. Cool observation Ryan. Dave Dave Provencher Dave Provencher On Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 9:48 AM Ryan Wirtes via CTBirds < ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> wrote: > I was watching a soaring Broad-winged Hawk over my house last weekend. As > it soared it began going into a series of quick dives. On one of the dives > I saw it reach out and grab a small winged creature. It was hard to tell > exactly what it grabbed due to the speed, backlighting, etc., but it did > not appear to be a bird (no struggle/feathers). I'm assuming this was a > migrating butterfly. Has anyone else witnessed predation of this type by a > buteo? I'm curious. > > Ryan Wirtes > Bethlehem > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) > for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit > http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org >

I figured this was the case; soaring about, seeing a quick snack then WHAM! Very cool! Thanks, Dave! Ryan Wirtes Bethlehem On Thu, Sep 12, 2019, at 10:05 AM, David Provencher wrote: > Broad-winged Hawks eat a number of insects, though hunting them on the wing is not usual. Probably a target of opportunity. Might have been a dragonfly if not a butterfly, possibly even flying ants since it is the season. Cool observation Ryan. > > Dave > > Dave Provencher > > Dave Provencher > > On Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 9:48 AM Ryan Wirtes via CTBirds <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> wrote: >> I was watching a soaring Broad-winged Hawk over my house last weekend. As it soared it began going into a series of quick dives. On one of the dives I saw it reach out and grab a small winged creature. It was hard to tell exactly what it grabbed due to the speed, backlighting, etc., but it did not appear to be a bird (no struggle/feathers). I'm assuming this was a migrating butterfly. Has anyone else witnessed predation of this type by a buteo? I'm curious. >> >> Ryan Wirtes >> Bethlehem >> _______________________________________________ >> This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. >> For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org

Oh, I hope it was not one of my students' butterflies!!! > On September 12, 2019 at 10:18 AM Ryan Wirtes via CTBirds <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> wrote: > > > I figured this was the case; soaring about, seeing a quick snack then WHAM! > > Very cool! Thanks, Dave! > > Ryan Wirtes > Bethlehem > > > On Thu, Sep 12, 2019, at 10:05 AM, David Provencher wrote: > > Broad-winged Hawks eat a number of insects, though hunting them on the wing is not usual. Probably a target of opportunity. Might have been a dragonfly if not a butterfly, possibly even flying ants since it is the season. Cool observation Ryan. > > > > Dave > > > > Dave Provencher > > > > Dave Provencher > > > > On Thu, Sep 12, 2019, 9:48 AM Ryan Wirtes via CTBirds <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> wrote: > >> I was watching a soaring Broad-winged Hawk over my house last weekend. As it soared it began going into a series of quick dives. On one of the dives I saw it reach out and grab a small winged creature. It was hard to tell exactly what it grabbed due to the speed, backlighting, etc., but it did not appear to be a bird (no struggle/feathers). I'm assuming this was a migrating butterfly. Has anyone else witnessed predation of this type by a buteo? I'm curious. > >> > >> Ryan Wirtes > >> Bethlehem > >> _______________________________________________ > >> This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > >> For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org