Subject: Re: ravens and predation...
Date: Jun 18 15:00 PD 1995
From: Michael Price - michael_price at mindlink.bc.ca


Hi Tweeters,

Don Baccus says:
(snip)
>I have seen a crow kill a starling before, one of a bunch that
>were obnoxiously harassing it (they were all perched on a
>building). But it ignored it, didn't eat it.

That's a pretty ill-tempered and well-fed crow, Don; I can't imagine one
putting all that energy into snuffing a bird with, comparatively speaking,
all that meat on it and not chowing down at some point.

A bad-tempered crow in Seattle
Gave a starli--mmmmpphhhh.

Yes, well, where were we. In the peaceful, tree-lined streets of Vancouver
BC's west side (not the West End: that has the noisy, hi-rise-lined streets
bordering downtown) I've seen crows relentlessly flying down starlings in
terrifyingly exciting chases sustained sometimes over two or three minutes,
far longer than nest-vicinity harassment, but I've never seen what they do
with their catch.

Curious: aside from ravens, which N. Amer. crow is most predatory, and under
what conditions?

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
michael_price at mindlink.bc.ca