One reply:
About 5 years or so ago, while sitting at Starbucks in Juanita (Kirkland), I
saw a crow fly in and snatch up a flying House Sparrow by the wing. Flying
toward a powerline the crow flew, house sparrow dangling from its beak, with
several other house sparrows in hot pursuit. (They broke off considerably
before the crow neared the powerline: several other crows were nearby.)

The meal-to-be struggled a lot, and in a few moments, managed to break free,
whereupon it beat wings to a shrub nearby. And while some may consider the
term "cowering" to be an anthropomorphism, that term applied to the
seemingly unscathed house sparrow.

Denis DeSilvis
denis.j.desilvis at boeing.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Deborah Wisti-Peterson [mailto:nyneve at u.washington.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2002 8:07 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: baby birds everywhere



this morning, as i walked to campus, i was charmed by the sight
of a baby robin, complete with dark spots on his yellowish breast
and white spots on his dark back, following dad around for morsels
of food.

yesterday evening, as i walked from the bus stop, i saw an amazing
sight. two starlings were flying away from me, with a crow in hot
pursuit. the crow flew down one starling and grabbed it with its
beak in midflight. the other starling, presumably the parent, began
to attack the crow, along with more starling pals that seemed to
appear out of nowhere. i could hear the young starling screaming
as the crow flew off with it, presumably to kill it. i lost sight of
the struggle, but could still hear the screaming starling, but i could
also hear others screaming in all the commotion, too. a few minutes
later, a screaming starling flew over me and perched on the power
lines, and then began to fluff and re-arrange its feathers. i have no
idea if this bird on the power line was the same one that had been
grabbed by the crow, however.

has anyone ever seen a crow actively hunt down and grab a flying bird?

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Love the creator? Then protect the creation.