Latest news with #VladimirDinets
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Like a Tom Cruise stunt: hawk uses traffic patterns to target prey
It is a tactic worthy of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt: wait until a beeping pedestrian crossing indicates a traffic queue has formed then use the line of cars as cover to reach your target. But this isn't a scene from Mission: Impossible – it's the behaviour of a young hawk. The discovery is not the first time birds have been found to make use of an urban environment. Crows, for example, are known to drop foods such as walnuts on to roads for cars to crush them open. However, the researcher behind a new study says it is the most advanced case so far of raptors making use of traffic patterns. 'When I figured out what was going on, I was really impressed. I didn't expect that,' said Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist at the University of Tennessee and author of the study. 'On the other hand, every time I study some animal species it proves smarter than I expect.' Dinets made the discovery during the school run in West Orange, New Jersey, when he spotted a young Cooper's hawk emerge from a tree near a road junction. The bird flew close to the pavement behind a queue of traffic that had stopped at a red light before crossing the road and taking a dive near one of the houses. After seeing the behaviour for a second time, Dinets realised the hawk was pouncing on a flock of birds that had gathered in front of a house where a family often ate dinner outdoors. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Ethology, Dinets describes how he then carried out 12 hours of observations from his car over 18 days during the winter of 2021-22. These were made on weekday mornings and only when the flock was present and there was no rain or snow the day before – weather that would prevent the residents of the house from eating alfresco. Dinets recorded six attempted attacks by the same hawk, identifiable by its plumage, and on one occasion saw it fly away with a house sparrow in its grip. He found the hawk only emerged from the tree when a long queue of traffic had built up, offering sufficient cover for its approach – something that depended on the pedestrian crossing being activated. Dinets also noticed the bird took up its position in the tree when the crossing's sound signal began, suggesting the hawk used the sound as an indication that a longer traffic queue was to form and that it was time to prepare for attack. 'This behaviour required having a mental map of the area and understanding the connection between the sound signals and the change in traffic pattern – a remarkable intellectual feat for a young bird that likely had just moved into the city,' Dinets writes, noting Cooper's hawks tend to be winter visitors to urban areas. Related: California town investigates mystery of 'exploding' bird deaths The following winter he twice saw an adult hawk, possibly the same bird, hunting in the same way. But the following summer the sound signals stopped working and the residents that ate alfresco moved out of their house. 'No hawks were ever observed at the intersection after that,' he wrote. Dinets added that while it is known social birds such as crows and parrots can be very clever, intelligence in more solitary species is more difficult for humans to recognise and so probably underestimated. 'Cities are extremely dangerous places for wild animals,' he added. 'Anything that can survive here must have some special abilities and deserves our respect.'
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Like a Tom Cruise stunt: hawk uses traffic patterns to target prey
It is a tactic worthy of Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt: wait until a beeping pedestrian crossing indicates a traffic queue has formed then use the line of cars as cover to reach your target. But this isn't a scene from Mission: Impossible – it's the behaviour of a young hawk. The discovery is not the first time birds have been found to make use of an urban environment. Crows, for example, are known to drop foods such as walnuts on to roads for cars to crush them open. However, the researcher behind a new study says it is the most advanced case so far of raptors making use of traffic patterns. 'When I figured out what was going on, I was really impressed. I didn't expect that,' said Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist at the University of Tennessee and author of the study. 'On the other hand, every time I study some animal species it proves smarter than I expect.' Dinets made the discovery during the school run in West Orange, New Jersey, when he spotted a young Cooper's hawk emerge from a tree near a road junction. The bird flew close to the pavement behind a queue of traffic that had stopped at a red light before crossing the road and taking a dive near one of the houses. After seeing the behaviour for a second time, Dinets realised the hawk was pouncing on a flock of birds that had gathered in front of a house where a family often ate dinner outdoors. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Ethology, Dinets describes how he then carried out 12 hours of observations from his car over 18 days during the winter of 2021-22. These were made on weekday mornings and only when the flock was present and there was no rain or snow the day before – weather that would prevent the residents of the house from eating alfresco. Dinets recorded six attempted attacks by the same hawk, identifiable by its plumage, and on one occasion saw it fly away with a house sparrow in its grip. He found the hawk only emerged from the tree when a long queue of traffic had built up, offering sufficient cover for its approach – something that depended on the pedestrian crossing being activated. Dinets also noticed the bird took up its position in the tree when the crossing's sound signal began, suggesting the hawk used the sound as an indication that a longer traffic queue was to form and that it was time to prepare for attack. 'This behaviour required having a mental map of the area and understanding the connection between the sound signals and the change in traffic pattern – a remarkable intellectual feat for a young bird that likely had just moved into the city,' Dinets writes, noting Cooper's hawks tend to be winter visitors to urban areas. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion The following winter he twice saw an adult hawk, possibly the same bird, hunting in the same way. But the following summer the sound signals stopped working and the residents that ate alfresco moved out of their house. 'No hawks were ever observed at the intersection after that,' he wrote. Dinets added that while it is known social birds such as crows and parrots can be very clever, intelligence in more solitary species is more difficult for humans to recognise and so probably underestimated. 'Cities are extremely dangerous places for wild animals,' he added. 'Anything that can survive here must have some special abilities and deserves our respect.'
Gizmodo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
This Hawk Figured Out Traffic Signals to Ambush Its Prey
Birds continue to be amazing. Crows can use tools and hold grudges against specific people. Magpies can recognize themselves in mirrors. And now, hawks are using traffic signals to hunt down prey, according to a study published today in the journal Frontiers in Ethology. The story starts with Vladimir Dinets, a zoologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the study's author, and an intersection in West Orange, New Jersey, near his home. As a zoologist, he had long been interested in animals' perspective on and understanding of urban environments—and in birds' relationship with cars, in particular. Scientists have previously observed ravens patrol American highways waiting for roadkill and songbirds using cars to hide from predators. Dinets was on the lookout for these interesting interactions when a young Cooper's hawk migrated into his neighborhood and started doing something brilliant. The intersection wasn't particularly busy, even during rush hour, Dinets wrote in a guest editorial for Frontiers in Ethology. But sometimes, a pedestrian would cross the street, causing cars to pile up all the way to a small, bushy tree down the block. The pedestrian 'walk' signal would also make a sound that indicated it was time to walk. One morning, Dinets saw the hawk emerge from the tree, fly very low above the line of cars, cross the street between the cars, and then dive to get something near one of the houses. Then the same thing happened again. And again. It turns out that the family that lived in that house near the bushy tree liked to have dinner in their front yard. In response, birds—like sparrows and doves—would flock there to claim the leftover crumbs. That made for easy pickings for the hawk, who would swoop down into the yard to catch said sparrows and doves. But, curiously, the hawk only did this when cars were lined up along the block all the way to the tree. Dinets eventually figured out that the line of cars provided cover for the hawk, and that the hawk had learned to recognize the sound of the pedestrian 'walk' signal. As soon as a pedestrian pressed the button, the hawk would fly from wherever it had been hanging out and into the small, bushy tree. It would then wait for cars to pile up before using the line of cars as cover to sneak up on its prey. The hawk had, apparently, learned to use the pedestrian signal as a cue to start heading over to the house crowded with defenseless birds, according to Dinets. 'That meant that the hawk understood the connection between the sound and the eventual car queue length,' Dinets explained. The hawk also apparently had a good mental map of the neighborhood. The hawk (or what Dinets thinks was the same hawk) returned the next year and used the same strategy to hunt. Eventually, though, the family moved away and the signal stopped working, so Dinets hasn't seen any super smart hawks hunting near his home since. Life is tough for birds in cities—they have to avoid windows, weave through cars, and deal with noise. But this study shows at least one way that they've adapted to urban living. 'I think my observations show that Cooper's hawks manage to survive and thrive there, at least in part, by being very smart,' Dinets wrote.
