Hi all.
A little bit more on the recent topic of mobbing -----
Until today, my high count of the number of crows mobbing a raptor was 60
(an immature red-tail was the victim).
This afternoon, I spotted a dancing, bouncing aerial ball of crows west of
Queen Anne Hill, with either mischief or malevolence in mind. It was the
latter. The center of attention was an adult Red-Tailed Hawk riding the
updrafts on the west side of Queen Anne. Initially, 45-50 crows were
mobbing it. Then, 150-200 crows left Magnolia and headed toward the north
end of Queen Anne. Some of them couldn't resist joining in. For 2-3
minutes, the unfortunate hawk had 100-125 (!) crows in attendance. Most
just swooped by the red-tail's wingtips, but there were 5 direct hits. Then
the crows dropped away until about 30 were left; at that point, the hawk
dove into the trees. End of show - for the time being.

Ruth Taylor
Seattle
rutht at seanet.com