Just now about three dozen crows are mobbing a Red-Tailed Hawk outside my
condo south of downtown Bellevue, assisted by a Flicker and several
Steller's Jays. I thought they were more insistent than usual, so I went to
see if perhaps they had an owl in their sights. Instead, I saw that the
hawk had a dying crow in its grasp. The crows were coming much closer to
the hawk than is usual, doubtless because of its prey -- and perhaps because
they knew its claws were occupied.

This reminded me of a very odd event occurred several years ago. Well over
200 crows, all cawing at full volume, congregated in dozens of trees around
our condo. Thinking "owl," I went to see what they had. All I found was a
dead crow in the street, apparently hit by a car. For more than half an
hour, crows continued to arrive till every tree in the area was black with
them; their noise was more than I have ever heard from birds in my life.
Then, within a few seconds, they fell totally silent. For about half an
hour, not a crow moved or made a sound. Then, in groups of two to six, they
silently flew away. It took a long time for them to depart.

I have puzzled over this event ever since. It is hard not to believe that
the crows were mourning their departed comrade -- and since crows die every
day without this sort of display, the dear departed must have been a true
VIC (very important crow). Has anyone else ever seen a "crow wake" before?
I'd love to know more about this behavior.

Dan Lindsay, Bellevue
mail to: susandan2 at earthlink.net