American Crows attacking a Hawk
Corvus brachyrhynchos
33.7748, -84.2963
Field Notes
Description:
"A large passerine bird species of the family Corvidae. It is a common bird found throughout much of North America. In the interior of the continent south of the Arctic, it is simply called "the crow", as no other such birds occur there on any regular basis. It is one of several species of corvid that are entirely blackThe American Crow is a distinctive bird with iridescent black feathers all over. Its legs, feet and bill are also black. They are 40–50 cm (16–20 in) in length, of which the tail makes up about 40%. The American Crow is one of only a few species of bird that has been observed modifying and using tools to obtain food." - Wikipedia
Habitat:
This crow is a permanent resident in most of the USA, but most Canadian birds migrate some distances southward in winter. Outside of the nesting season these birds often gather in large communal roosts at night.
Notes:
This is a low quality of picture, for Project Noah - but I post it because of their behavior - which I had not seen before today. Last night, was the first micro-freeze in our area, so food or habitat has changed a bit. That could have been the cause of this but I do not know.
In the large pine trees near my house, there was a large commotion of crow calls, and much movement of three or four birds. It lasted for several minutes and attracted other crows. The calls got louder as more crows joined and the activity indicated to me something was going on. A few very high pitched (for crows) calls went out, then, I watched about 10 crows swirling around in the air above the trees. The flock flew erratically, higher and lower, and in random- jerking - directions along the tree line. That lasted for about a minute, and then the flock flew very high, but still in a tight circling motion. Then a few birds dropped off the group and others flew in a dive-bombing and circling fashion. Some of the birds were dive-bombing in and out of the swirling flock. Then I noticed one of the birds was much bigger and tan and brown, not black - probably a hawk. It was being chased away. Two crows continued to "chase" it several hundred yards away. In the last picture, one crow continued to pester the hawk for another minute or two and then it returned to the flock. The hawk circled very high for another few seconds, then flew out of my sight. I never saw what the crows were protecting.
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