Crows Chasing Birds of Prey. (1 Viewer)

Paddy Elsender · Dec 6, 2006

Hello Friends.
I am new to birding and ever since I was a child I have often wondered why Crows chase Hawks etc.
Please could someone give me an answer. Thank You.

tonyf · Dec 6, 2006

self-preservation,removal of a threat to their young and because they can.
most birds will mob and chase hawks etc for the same reasons.
Tony

Markus Jais · Dec 7, 2006

another reason sometimes is to steal food. sometimes crows try to get something of
the prey a hawk just captured.

there is also a difference in response to the kind of hawk.

1) Commom Buzzard:
Crows often attack it to drive the buzzard away, sometimes to steel food.
A Common Buzzard very rarely attacks crows and is normally not strong enough for this kind of prey

2) Goshawk
Deadly enemy of crows. Crows "go nuts" when they spot a Goshawk and (at least when in a group) will attack it very aggressively.

3) White-tailed Sea Eagle (Seeadler in German)
Crows often can be found close to the eagles, because when the eagle catches a
bird or a fish, there will often be something left for the crows.

Markus

Capercaillie71 · Dec 7, 2006

Markus Jais said:
A Common Buzzard very rarely attacks crows and is normally not strong enough for this kind of prey

I'm not so sure about that. In this part of the world, crows (and particularly juvenile rooks) can be a significant part of a buzzard's diet at certain times of year. Last summer I was looking down into a buzzards nest in a deep valley and the nest and surrounding branches were covered in crows' wings (probably rooks).

Paddy Elsender · Dec 7, 2006

Thanks Tony, common sense I suppose.
Regards Pat E.

tonyf said:
self-preservation,removal of a threat to their young and because they can.
most birds will mob and chase hawks etc for the same reasons.
Tony

Paddy Elsender · Dec 7, 2006

Thanks Markus.
I posted a thread asking why there is no pheasants or partridges in my part of the world. Kreuztal NRW. Any ideas please.
Regards Pat E.

Markus Jais said:
another reason sometimes is to steal food. sometimes crows try to get something of
the prey a hawk just captured.

there is also a difference in response to the kind of hawk.

1) Commom Buzzard:
Crows often attack it to drive the buzzard away, sometimes to steel food.
A Common Buzzard very rarely attacks crows and is normally not strong enough for this kind of prey

2) Goshawk
Deadly enemy of crows. Crows "go nuts" when they spot a Goshawk and (at least when in a group) will attack it very aggressively.

3) White-tailed Sea Eagle (Seeadler in German)
Crows often can be found close to the eagles, because when the eagle catches a
bird or a fish, there will often be something left for the crows.

Markus

mike from ebbw · Dec 7, 2006

Markus Jais said:
another reason sometimes is to steal food. sometimes crows try to get something of
the prey a hawk just captured.

there is also a difference in response to the kind of hawk.

1) Commom Buzzard:
Crows often attack it to drive the buzzard away, sometimes to steel food.
A Common Buzzard very rarely attacks crows and is normally not strong enough for this kind of prey

2) Goshawk
Deadly enemy of crows. Crows "go nuts" when they spot a Goshawk and (at least when in a group) will attack it very aggressively.

3) White-tailed Sea Eagle (Seeadler in German)
Crows often can be found close to the eagles, because when the eagle catches a
bird or a fish, there will often be something left for the crows.

Markus

thats interesting what you say about crows attacking goshawks.our local raven colony flee in all directions when our local goshawks make an appearance.mind you if you could see the utter carnage of raven feathers around the nest site you understand why.

Markus Jais · Dec 8, 2006

mike from ebbw said:
thats interesting what you say about crows attacking goshawks.our local raven colony flee in all directions when our local goshawks make an appearance.mind you if you could see the utter carnage of raven feathers around the nest site you understand why.

I also saw Crows fleeing when a Goshawk appeared. But for example, when
it is seeting in a tree and there are many Crows, they probably feel save to attack
the raptor. a single Crow probably would think twice to attack a Goshawk (maybe except when the Goshawk is close to the nest).

by the way. there is a new Goshawk book coming out:

http://markusjais.blogspot.com/2006/10/new-goshawk-monograph.html

Markus

Markus Jais · Dec 8, 2006

Patrick Elsender said:
Thanks Markus.
I posted a thread asking why there is no pheasants or partridges in my part of the world. Kreuztal NRW. Any ideas please.
Regards Pat E.

Partridges are often very hard to see. they are also very rare now in many regions in
Germany.
though some people often claim that the Goshawks, Buzzards and Crows are the main reason, this is normally not the case.
often intensive agriculture, habitat destruction (removel of hedges for example) are the
main reasons for the decline of Partridges.

there have been several studies about the impact of predators on ground nesting birds.
some (in German) can be found in this issue of the "Vogelwelt" magazine:
http://www.vogelwelt.com/cms/red/iv/iv-2005/iv-2005-4.php

often the eggs or young are eaten by boars or foxes and are mainly taken at night.

some blame the crows and also the Goshawk, completely ignoring that the Goshawk
is the main enemy of Crows.

all very complicated with lots of people and interests involved in those
discussions, often ignoring scientific studies.

about Pheasants: they suffer from similar problems as the Partridges, but are normally more common. they are also often released as game birds.

I hope this helps.

Markus

Paddy Elsender · Dec 25, 2006

Markus Jais said:
Partridges are often very hard to see. they are also very rare now in many regions in
Germany.
though some people often claim that the Goshawks, Buzzards and Crows are the main reason, this is normally not the case.
often intensive agriculture, habitat destruction (removel of hedges for example) are the
main reasons for the decline of Partridges.

there have been several studies about the impact of predators on ground nesting birds.
some (in German) can be found in this issue of the "Vogelwelt" magazine:
http://www.vogelwelt.com/cms/red/iv/iv-2005/iv-2005-4.php

often the eggs or young are eaten by boars or foxes and are mainly taken at night.

some blame the crows and also the Goshawk, completely ignoring that the Goshawk
is the main enemy of Crows.

all very complicated with lots of people and interests involved in those
discussions, often ignoring scientific studies.

about Pheasants: they suffer from similar problems as the Partridges, but are normally more common. they are also often released as game birds.

I hope this helps.

Markus

Hi Markus, thank you for your explanation. I thought it verry strange that there were no signs of Pheasant or Partridge.
Thank you
Regards. Pat Elsender.

daviddilworth · Feb 1, 2007

Patrick Elsender said:
Hello Friends.
I am new to birding and ever since I was a child I have often wondered why Crows chase Hawks etc.
Please could someone give me an answer. Thank You.

I observed a young Northern Harrier hawk being tormented by a small group of crows. I was in for a real treat! The hawk suddenly turned on the closest crow and they spiraled to the ground. I got some good photos of the hawk after it munched on the crow.

Immediately after the hawk took the crow to the ground, at least a hundred crows gathered above the kill and voiced their objections. They circled in a ball for some time, but would not venture too low to the ground. They eventually dispersed. Score 1 for the hawk!

I often see crows harrassing Bald Eagles. Though I'm a fairly new birder myself, I would guess that the birds of prey are a danger to the crow's young so the two species have issues with each other. I suppose the crows bug the birds of prey to keep them out of their territory.

JRE · Feb 1, 2007

A friend of mine once saw a Buzzard that was being mobbed by a Carrion Crow. The Buzzard had finally had enough and dived like a Peregrine smash onto the crow, taking it clean out the sky! I sometimes wish they would all do that, Buzzards are awesome, crows are irritating and boring.

jaymoynihan · Feb 2, 2007

daviddilworth said:
...I would guess that the birds of prey are a danger to the crow's young so the two species have issues with each other. I suppose the crows bug the birds of prey to keep them out of their territory.

Re American, or "common Crows", Exactly the reason. Same with owls. During nesting season, and if near a large lake, will do the same with gulls.

jay

Paddy Elsender · Feb 2, 2007

Crows chasing hawks.

Thank you to all writers explaining various reasons for crows chasing hawks.
All the comments are readily acceptable and understood. Crows are not exactly my favourite bird but they have to continue to exist and so they must protect their domains.
Thank you all, this realy is a good site.
Regards Pat Elsender.

The sniper · Feb 2, 2007

firecrest,i saw the same thing this summer while in cornwall,the baiting of the buzzard by four crows went on for about 5 minutes until the buzzard had enough and bombed the crow,the crow fell out of the sky andd into a field about 200 metres away from us,we thought it was dead but when we got to the field there was no sign of the crow even though we only took a few seconds to get there and we didn't see it fly off
I think that in areas where food is plentiful both birds live alongside each other quite well for the most part but when they are in areas where maybe the food source isn't as rich then they will undoubtably encounter problems with each other and i have heard of crows being killed and eaten by buzzards

cazort · Mar 16, 2007

I've observed this same behaviour in the U.S. We have a few of the same species (Goshawk, but i've never seen one here) but most are different...still the same behavior with crows. I have seen Red-tailed hawks steal eggs from a bird's nest...I think this is one of the reasons crows feel threatened by them...but I've never seen one of these Hawks go after a crow to eat. The red-tailed hawks are big and don't seem agile enough to catch a crow easily. From what I hear, the main predator of adult crows are large owls--hence Crows' black colour...camoflage during the night, conspicuous during the day.

mep · Oct 13, 2014

Crows chasing a Buzzard

On Sunday afternoon from my kitchen window I watched a large flock of crows swirling around a Buzzard as if to annoy it. The Buzzard was not carrying any food in either its beak or claws. The crows did not actually attack the Buzzard, neither did the Buzzard attach the crows. I have seen this often here in Devon but wonder a) Why do the crows do this, when it is not even nesting time and b) Why doesn't the Buzzard attack the crows, as it is a much larger and stronger bird? Could it be perhaps that crows are just territorial in nature? Anyone have any ideas?

fugl · Oct 13, 2014

Another reason for mobbing/chasing is that it communicates to the bird of prey that the crows know of its presence and are on guard, thus encouraging it to move on in search of easier prey.

wolfbirder · Oct 21, 2014

Crows perpetually mob Buzzards, the moment they take to the air. Buzzards could potentially take a crow, but they never get too close and usually attack in two's or more.

Crows are numerous so Buzzards probably just tolerate their presence. Crows mob all raptors not just buzzards.

Tiraya · Nov 7, 2014

RE: Buzzards attacking crows, I've seen red-tailed hawks attack American crows every now and then, I imagine the European equivalents could have a similar relationship.

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