So about a week ago, I was sitting out on my back porch where I always sit in the AM to watch "my" birds. I saw my female RBWO, Tiffany (bride of Chucky, the RBWO) sitting next door on her favorite pine tree that she always sits on before she flies into our yard to hit our feeders. Suddenly, a gang of crows shows up and she starts drumming and squeaking frantically... she doesn't want them on "her" tree. Unfortunately for her, the crows also love that specific tree as I see them there all the time. Perhaps they would have left her alone if she hadn't started attempting to defend her position, but with her aggressive response to their arrival they actually started to ATTACK her!! :eek!::eek!::eek!::eek!::eek!::eek!::eek!:
I was terribly worried about her and didn't know what to do. I threw a branch at the tree but missed horribly. I know I'm probably supposed to "let nature take it course", but I couldn't bear it if something happened to her, especially since she has babies to raise right now and they need her.
After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only about 2-3 minutes, she flew towards our house and landed on her favorite tree in our yard... I'm assuming because she knows the crows won't enter our yard or go near the feeders (why they won't, I have no idea). I was so relieved that she made it out alive. She looks a little rough, but she's been acting normal since then so I don't think there's any damage, just some missing feathers.
I have seen crows attack very large birds in the air, I'm assuming they are attacking hawks/falcons or other birds of prey... but I didn't know crows would attack "smaller" birds, although the RBWO's are sort of medium sized I suppose. Here are some shots of her after the fight...
I was terribly worried about her and didn't know what to do. I threw a branch at the tree but missed horribly. I know I'm probably supposed to "let nature take it course", but I couldn't bear it if something happened to her, especially since she has babies to raise right now and they need her.
After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only about 2-3 minutes, she flew towards our house and landed on her favorite tree in our yard... I'm assuming because she knows the crows won't enter our yard or go near the feeders (why they won't, I have no idea). I was so relieved that she made it out alive. She looks a little rough, but she's been acting normal since then so I don't think there's any damage, just some missing feathers.
I have seen crows attack very large birds in the air, I'm assuming they are attacking hawks/falcons or other birds of prey... but I didn't know crows would attack "smaller" birds, although the RBWO's are sort of medium sized I suppose. Here are some shots of her after the fight...