The crows around my area of Ballard have been doing a lot of *early*
morning mobbing the last few weeks, but it's not a hawk that's the
predator, but a pair of raccoons. Friday morning they raided a crow's
nest (so says my neighbor) and there must have been 30 crows making a
huge fuss for more than an hour. It seems like every morning since I
wake up to crows and raccoons.

(This started a week or so ago when I heard the oddest noise at about
6 AM, it sounded like a cross between cats caterwauling and starlings
fighting, I had a clear view from my bedroom window of a pair of raccoons
mating in a large cedar about 50 feet away. I've heard that odd cry
many mornings since.)


=================
Cliff Drake
Seattle, (Ballard) WA
Birder at Juno.com


On Sun, 25 May 1997 12:29:50 -0800 LeeAnn Cooper <lcooper at gte.net>
writes:
>Greetings,
> I would love to hear what folks know about
>mobbing crows. While I have no love for the large noisy
>creatures our family was fascinated by a scene last summer. We heard
>a
>huge cacophony in the large fir trees and went out into the yard to
>investigate...this was so loud that about 7 or 8 of our non-birder
>type
>neighbors also came out to see what was about. There must have been
>100
>crows chasing our local hawk....or was the hawk chasing them?.. As we
>watched more crows kept appearing from every direction. The hawk
>circled and the crows literally mobbed him.......this went on over 30
>minutes until finally the hawk gave up and left. Slowly the crows
>dissipated in all directions and all was quiet once more?
> How far will crows travel to join such a scene?
> Are the crows protecting, territory, nests?
> Does this hawk have a weird sense of play?
>
>Sincerely,
>
>LeeAnn Cooper
>Mountlake Terrace, WA
>