I saw quite different interactions between crows, a merlin and a Cooper's
hawk at the Montlake Fill Saturday evening. When I arrived at the dime
parking lot, there were 30-40 crows investigating trash and squabbling with
each other. A merlin (female, I believe, by size) perched in the dead
cottonwoods at the SE corner of the Fill began hunting. When she approached
the parking lot, about 40 feet up and going like a bat out of hell, the
crows silently rose in unison and flew into the trees at the SW corner of
the parking lot. The merlin began chasing Vaux's swifts (they were diving
at her: looked like one hit her on two occasions) and eventually flew out of
view.
By now, there was a peregrine in the dead cottonwoods. While I was scoping
her, I heard lots of racket from the previously silent crows. They had
cornered a juvenile female Cooper's hawk in the trees. Every time she would
shoot into the next tree or bush, they followed, clustering around her at
close range. Last year, I picked up a dead female Sharpie that was supposed
to have been killed by crows, so I kept an eye on the situation. Gradually,
the crows and the Coop moved out of sight, things quieted down, and the
crows apparently drifted off to their night roost.
By now it was dusk, I had been there for 30 minutes, and I had gone no
further than six feet from my car. As I got ready to leave, I discovered
the Cooper's hawk (I assume the same one) on a light standard 30 feet from
me. She seemed unconcerned by my presence, even when I stared at her
through my binos. Maybe she needs to learn about crows and people as well as
pheasants!

Ruth Taylor
Seattle WA
<rutht at seanet.com>

At 01:10 PM 9/28/98 +0000, Jerry Broadus wrote:

> The merlin would strafe a crow, which would just
>duck, and on some of the passes one of the unstrafed crows would
>take off and give chase. The merlin and crow would fly out over the
>river, losing altitude, while twisting and boxing. The merlin was
>always the one to "chicken out" before hitting the water
>
>Best show of last Thursday, however, was at Montlake fill. There is a
>large, regular, immature female Cooper's hawk thereabouts. A large, male,
>pheasant ran
>out from the bush and hunkered down in the tall grass right at the
>edge of the blackberries. The Coop couldn't resist a chase
>