It doesn't pay to be different (1 Viewer)

[ChrisKten]

I thought I'd share this in the main forum; I've already uploaded an image to the gallery, with a brief description, but I thought others might find it interesting.

There was a Crow at the Reservoirs yesterday that sounded like a Jackdaw, at least the in-flight call did. The other Crows didn't like it, in fact they tried to kill it. It wasn't even allowed to fly off, as it was constantly attacked in flight.

At one point, two of the Crows attacked it and forced it to crash land in the water. Almost instantly, Gulls appeared from nowhere, and I assumed the Crow would drown and then be eaten by the Gulls. However, the Crow immediately raised it's tail; this helped keep the Crows (which were now trying to drown it) at bay, but the tail also acted like a sail. With the help of the strong wind, and furious flapping, the Crow eventually made it the 20yds+ to the bank. It dried off a bit and flew off, pursued by the other Crows.

About an hour later I saw a lone Crow fly over, calling like a Jackdaw, and still pursued by other Crows. I've no idea how it ended, but I suspect the Crow was killed at some point during the day, but it may have escaped.

I've combined four pictures taken at 150yds+, so they're not very clear. But I think they give an idea of what I've described.

 

[Jane Turner]

Amazing.... What do American Crows sound like? My memory is a little "camp" as opposed to like a Jackdaw.

 

[Hobbes2]

Great stuff, Chris. Very interesting to read and see. :t:
Hobbes

 

[Kits]

What an amazing experience to witness, Chris.

 

[Mysticete]

The Hooded crow in New Jersey/New York this past summer interacted with American Crows without being harassed, IIRC

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I saw a crows' court on the Firth of Tay at Newburgh one February day about 9 or 10 years ago. A gang of crows attacked another crow on a mudbank offshore and didn't let up until they'd killed it. In fact they didn't let up even after they'd killed it. As its corpse was drifting off in the current it was still being attacked.

They killed it by pecking and drowning, standing on top of it while it was in the water.

 

[sglynas]

Isn't there stories of "Crow councils" then attacking the "Defendant",
or this maybe just another one of the Tall stories my used to tell.

Fantastic to witness though Chris and thanks for sharing.

Steve

 

[Barred Wobbler]

Isn't there stories of "Crow councils" then attacking the "Defendant",
or this maybe just another one of the Tall stories my used to tell.

Fantastic to witness though Chris and thanks for sharing.

Steve

AKA crows' courts. See the post above yours.

 

[sglynas]

Sorry Barred Wobbler,
i must pay more attention.

Steve

 

[ChrisKten]

I'm not sure about a Crows' Court, but I'd guess that I saw the sentence being carried out.

Conflicting opinions about this; some say they've seen a Crows' Court, while others are convinced it's a myth. There's also a similar situation with Magpies.

I've watched Crows, Jays, and Magpies over the years (they're garden regulars, so I can study their behaviour), and I wouldn't put anything past them. They're very intelligent, probably even more intelligent than we think. I posted a few years ago about Crows setting an ambush for a Magpie; the ambush was based specifically on one Magpie's behaviour, on how it previously evaded the Crows.

Anyway, not really anything to do with this particular incident.

 

[Barred Wobbler]

I thought there was more than a bit of myth about it until I saw it for myself.

 

[Johny121]

Interesting pics, At UEA campus last winter I saw A crow kill another whilst several other crows just seemed to watch intrigued. I was maybe 5 meters from it and they didnt seem to mind my interests, I didnt intervene .. not wanting to attend a lecture with a by then nearly dead crow . .

 

[TomSmith]

Isn't there stories of "Crow councils" then attacking the "Defendant",
or this maybe just another one of the Tall stories my used to tell.

I thought this was rooks' parliaments? (Mark Cocker writes about them in Crow Country.)