Some time ago, while waiting at the Coleman Dock for a ferry to Bainbridge, I observed two crows harassing a perched adult Bald Eagle. The eagle was at one end of a long cross beam and one of the crows would land on the beam about 10 feet from the eagle. While he held the larger bird's attention, the second crow flew in and actually struck the eagle in the back of the head! They performed this feat at least 3 times.
-Rolan
rod gilbert <roderickgilbert at attbi.com> wrote:Hey tweets,

We must have all seen it.....crows performing superlative flight acrobatics
while mobbing a perched red-tailed hawk. I watched the scenario unfold in
Lacey a couple of days ago with just a pair of crows. What strikes me
whenever I watch this is how close the crows get to the hawk (which is often
within inches, and at great speed) and yet the red-tailed seems totally
oblivious to the relentless aerial assaults. It doesn't flinch, turn it's
head or anything. I had to leave after watching for about 5 minutes. I'm
sure it eventually left while being continually mobbed until well out of the
crow's territory.

A couple of questions. Do crows ever make contact with perched or flying
red-taileds? It would seem like they could do some real damage to a sitting
target, especially at the speed and trajectory some of the mobbing attacks
occur at. I have seen red-tailed hawks turn and display their talons to
mobbing crows while in flight, which makes me wonder if they are more
vulnerable in flight? Are the crows really just a nuisance to the hawks, or
are the hawks a little more concerned than they appear to show, especially
when there can be many mobbing crows?

Thanks,

Rod,
Olympia

roderickgilbert at attbi.com




Rolan Nelson
Burley, WA
rnbuffle at yahoo.com


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