Subject: Crow Behavior
Date: Jan 28 22:14:24 2003
From: Hugh Jennings - hughbirder at bigzoo.net


I witnessed a disturbing incidence of crow behavior this morning at the Lake
Hills Greenbelt in Bellevue. I heard a very loud chorus of crows usually
associated with harassment of hawks or owls. In this case it was a group of
10-12 crows pecking at the head of another crow that was laying on the
ground at the far side of a grassy field. The victim was flat on the ground
with its wings splayed out. It would raise its head up in protest once in a
while. There would be a large group of crows around the victim, then a
number would fly away with 2-3 staying behind to continue the attack. The
other crows would come back after a short while and join the attack again. I
don't believe the victim could have survived this continuous attack. I
watched through my binocs for about 5 minutes and left with the attack and
noise still going on. I haven't seen this crow behavior before and was
wondering what would prompt this type of vicious attack on one of your own
species.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at bigzoo.net