[21twelve]

I watched two large turkey buzzards picking away at a groundhog or something. They both hopped back about 10 feet which I thought odd. Then down came a little hawk to pick at the groundhog. Once the hawk had grabbed a piece he went back to the top of the utility pole, and the huge buzzards hopped back in. They repeated this over and over. Was pretty interesting to watch.

[rustbucket]

Scavengers like turkey vultures, caracara, and some hawks have a "pecking order" concerning carrion. Turkey vultures are low in the pecking order, and caracara easily drive them away from road kill. Finally a hawk like a Harris's Hawk dominates and drives away caracara (and vultures) from road kill.

I was driving down a rural road in South Texas and stopped to see birds gathered around a road-killed rabbit on the road. A car came whizzing by me and the bird scattered. I got the following photo of the birds reconverging on the rabbit carcass. There are 7 caracara, 2 turkey vultures (the large birds with the red heads), and one Harris's Hawk (the bird on the left).

The Harris's hawk immediately stood on the carcass which was gradually pulled out into the surrounding field. The vultures flew off into the field, while the hawk fought off the caracaras. The only caracaras that dared to challenge the hawk were the juveniles, who didn't know any better.

Here is a photo that showed the final distribution of birds around the rabbit carcass. The hawk was standing on the carcass chasing off a juvenile caracara. The vultures were out in the field a distance away.