• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Crow vs Dunlin (1 Viewer)

soultime

Well-known member
Had a great day today at Frampton and Freiston with large numbers of waders and wildfowl, particularly at Freiston Shore. This and a quite sizeable flock of Twite and a Lapland Bunting at Frampton were worth the travel time from Bedfordshire

However the highlight of the day for me, and certainly a first for me, was watching a Crow harass and finally catch a Dunlin in flight on the marsh at Freiston. The Crow took the Dunlin about four foot off the ground and then dropped to the ground with it, presumably to kill it as it took off a few seconds later carrying it's prey and landed on the bank and had it's lunch.

Is this common behaviour for a crow and has anyone else seen similar "falcon" like behaviour?


Andy
 
Sounds like you had a good day. Crows and other members of the Crow family are opportunists and if the chance arises then they will certainly take other birds. Mostly they will pick on young or injured birds but I have witnessed on two occasions a Magpie catch an adult Robin and another occasion when an adult Blackbird was caught. The Robin like your Dunlin was caught a few feet above ground although the Blackbird was taken as it was feeding on the ground.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top