Crow vs. squirrel story:

A couple of years ago (pretty sure it was late summer) on the Parrington
lawn (UW campus) I watched a crow 'tease' a squirrel. The squirrel was
trying to dig something up from the lawn, and the crow would slowly sneak
up directly from behind, stretch his(?) neck out, and pinch the squirrel's
tail! The squirrel would then furiously chase the crow for about ten to
fifteen feet before going back to the hole. The squirrel would
occasionally check behind to keep an eye on the crow, not that it did any
good (not smart enough to rotate to face the crow :-)). This went on for
more than 10 minutes (and about ten pinches), and might have kept on longer
except that a loose dog came by and chased them both off. The crow seemed
fairly pleased with himself throughout (gross anthropomorphism :-)), and
not particularly interested in the hole the squirrel was working on. I
looked in the hole later, and didn't find anything of interest either.
It's the only time I've ever wished I had a video camera handy. Any
insights into what was really going on? I don't think that hunting covers
it...


Allyn Weaks
allyn at cornetto.chem.washington.edu aka allyn at u.washington.edu
Pacific Northwest Native Wildlife Gardening:
http://chemwww.chem.washington.edu/natives/