Dive Bombers

There are a bunch of birds that live in the trees in front of our ranch house, among them are brewer's blackbirds (Euphagus cyanocephalus) and kingbirds (Tyrannus berticalis). Recently both the blackbirds and the kingbirds have been dive bombing the dogs of the ranch. It's interesting to watch, most of the dogs are completely oblivious to the birds attempts to scare them off. However, one day when I was watching the birds dive bomb RJ, one of Glynn's hound dogs, RJ noticed and became flustered, he couldn't quite figure out what was going on, he started growling at the air around him and finally ran off to hide in his dog house. On another occasion the birds started dive bombing Dusty, my dog, he was completely oblivious until one decided to hit his butt. It seemed intentional by the bird, but it was the first time I had seen one actually make contact with a dog. It startled Dusty, he jumped about five feet, made a tiny yelp and ran off to the creek. I love watching animals interact with each other, defending territories, courting, hunting. I find animal behavior very intriguing.