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Crows vs. Red-tailed Hawk ~ Crows Won? (1 Viewer)

Chickadeedeedee

Well-known member
Hi all. :hi:

This morning I saw 25-30 Common Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) pursue, dive down upon, grab out feathers without mercy a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Finally the Hawk went down, with plucked feathers flying, and the crows continuing their attack.

The crows are usually a very boisterous and noisy bunch. I don't know where he landed as the crows were uncharacteristically silent otherwise I would have found the hawk. I was unable to locate him.

I have seen some birds try to chase off hawks before or even take a dive at them but never have I witnessed this mob mentality. Is this a common behaviour? Do you think they make have killed the hawk?

Lydia
 
Crows are a threat to other birds, that must of been a sight to see though, we have magpies on our park but last year the crows started to move in, my uncle said beware because crows work to-gether and are more of a threat to other birds than magpies, it sounds like the poor hawk was invading their territory.
 
Hi Lydia.

What a fascinating post. I've seen Corvids mobbing Buzzards, Red Kites, Sparrowhawks, and even some of the larger Gulls, but I've never seen the behaviour that you describe. What a pity you weren't able to follow this attack to the end; it would have been interesting to know how it ended. You'll have to get yourself a microlite. LOL!!

All the best.
Ba.
 
Careful Baz - she's just as likely to do so anyway!!! :flyaway: Would have been interesting to know what did happen though - odd.

Love, Sue
 
Chickadeedeedee said:
Hi all. :hi:

This morning I saw 25-30 Common Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) pursue, dive down upon, grab out feathers without mercy a Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). Finally the Hawk went down, with plucked feathers flying, and the crows continuing their attack.

The crows are usually a very boisterous and noisy bunch. I don't know where he landed as the crows were uncharacteristically silent otherwise I would have found the hawk. I was unable to locate him.

I have seen some birds try to chase off hawks before or even take a dive at them but never have I witnessed this mob mentality. Is this a common behaviour? Do you think they make have killed the hawk?

Lydia


Hello Lydia,

You're back quickly this time, good to see you.

All you describe sounds a bit like the 'murdering' thing that Crows do to one of their own if the poor thing (in their eyes) warrants it. To do it to a Hawk though is quite different, unless he'd been pestering them more relentlessly than normal perhaps. One of those 'who knows' things I'm afraid. Lovely to see you Lydia, I look forward to the next time. Best wishes,

Sue
 
Hi Chickadeedeedee

This is fairly common mobbing behaviour amongst crows although actually striking the bird they are pursuing is something I have seen only rarely. It's always worth checking noisy crows, jays or other smaller birds to see whether they might be mobbing something interesting. I have found a few owls and hawks etc this way - particularly memorable was discovering a Barred Owl on a breeding bird survey last year being mobbed by Jays.

Luke
 
Hi again everyone :hi: !

Thank you for your comments. I feel bad that I was unable to locate Mr. Hawk and I did look too. I've seen a number of different species get together and drive off a hawk before like a robin teaming up with a blue jay and a grackle but nothing murderous about their advances.

The actions of the crows were definitely a different scenario! If the Hawk survived I am sure he will be bruised and battered for quite some time after his mugging. Do you think the hawk would resort to eating something like road kill as he probably would be too sore to hunt something?

I have been missing for a while because real life like working 63 hours/week get in the way of being able to post here. :-C

Hmmmmmmmm ! :h?: Just where ARE my priorities?!?!? :-O

Lydia
 
Hi Lydia,

Seen 'mobbing' lots of times, Buzzards over here get seen off by both Corvids and Gulls (though I've not seen a 'joint' attack), but I've never seen it get to the actual physical damage stage.

I do know the Crows (I'm using that generically) will 'try' one of their own species and kill it but I'd not heard of your case. I suspect that the Hawk won't survive unless it can still fly.

Here are a couple of photos, taken from the garden, of a Buzzard being seen off by Corvids, but they are not attcking it like yours (in the 2nd photo the Buzzard has put it's brakes on (u/c down) and they've all overshot it). Also a poor shot of a Buzzard with Gulls.

Nice to see you back again, I know that you're very busy but try to talk to us.

Bill.
 

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