[soultime]

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

[DaveN]

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.