Is it possible that the third crow was not a female but in fact a male and the
dominate male was flexing his muscles and making the subordinate male be
submissive. Ya know..like "don't get any ideas" this is MY mate!!!

Don't Alpha male wolves do this sort of thing?

But then what do I know I don't have no degree in nuttin'. :-)

Jerry and Sandy Converse
Grand Coulee, WA
mailto:sanjer at televar.com
http://ConverseCorner.com

MBlanchrd at aol.com wrote:

> Hi, Tweeters,
>
> Today, I saw THREE crows out in the same area. I'm assuming the mating pair
> was the same pair as yesterday. All three were on the ground. Two crows were
> mating and a third was standing about ten feet from the pair. The pair
> disengaged, so to speak, and the male immediately flew over to the watching
> crow and mounted her, much to her distress. (I'm assuming the third bird was
> a female). She raised one hell of a ruckus as the male bird mounted her, and
> there was a lot of wing flapping and yelling by the female bird. She was
> obviously struggling to get out from under the male. The first female then
> flew over, pecked at the unfortunate female who was yelling, and then she
> (female number one) flew off. When the male dismounted, the second female
> hopped away a couple feet from the male and roused but didn't fly. The male
> then took off, flying in the direction of the first female. After a few
> moments, the second female flew up into one of the oaks and merely sat there
> for almost ten minutes before she, too, flew off.
> What happened here? Was this a rape? What did I witness? I know that crows
> are monogamous, so what happened? Any ideas, anybody???
>
> Michelle
> MBlanchrd at aol.com
> Oly, WA

--

Jerry and Sandy Converse
Grand Coulee, WA
mailto:sanjer at televar.com
http://ConverseCorner.com

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember, amateurs built the Ark and
Professionals built the Titanic.