Every fall I see the same thing. When the first Sharp-shinned Hawks move
into the neighborhood, the crows and Steller's Jays go berserk, and the big
trees behind the house are full of sound and fury, as the corvids chase the
hawks and vice versa. There are usually flickers involved, too, and it's
startling to hear the flickers scream as the hawk chases them, but they're
in no danger.

This morning another player was added to the drama. We looked out the
window at a flurry of movement and realized it was a Merlin (a female of the
Taiga subspecies) chasing and being chased by at least 4 crows. I've seen
this many times, but usually in passing, and this time our yard was the
center of activity. We watched for almost 10 minutes while the falcon and
crows flew back and forth in any and all directions. The Merlin seemed so
fast, yet the crows kept up with it readily; it probably never turned on its
afterburners. Every time the Merlin would land briefly on the top of a
tree, a crow would be on it, and I was amazed that it just kept dashing back
and forth at high speed, rather than leaving the neighborhood. This is
surely play (perhaps in its role as training for serious business).

The little falcon must have passed over our yard no fewer than 25 times -
back and forth, forth and back, right to left, left to right - always with a
crow in front of or behind it. The jays stayed entirely out of this
activity, as they're not in the Merlin's class when it comes to flying.

Meanwhile, the resident Sharp-shin (immature female) was hopping around in
the big trees, occasionally being chased by or chasing a crow or flicker,
but staying out of the Merlin interaction just as the jays were. It
presumably knew it was outclassed in open air by the speedy Merlin.

Finally, the Merlin disappeared, and the jays immediately went after the
Sharp-shin. They had been keeping a low profile earlier, not that I think
they were in any danger from the Merlin (at times one sat right out on the
tip of a branch as the Merlin dashed by). The jay/crow/accipiter fracas
lasted a little while longer, then that hawk also disappeared.

While watching the Merlin going by overhead, at one point I spotted a
high-flying American Kestrel heading east, only the 3rd I've seen from my
yard. Most exciting raptor watching south of the West 90!

Dennis Paulson
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115