Rob and Tweeters,
On a field trip around Newport High School we observed the same behavior
of a crow dive bombing an Eastern Grey Squirrel. A thoughtful student
asked me if that was unique. I didn't know the answer. Serendipitious
that you would mention the same behavior. Anyone
know how common this behavior is? Does it go beyond territoriality?

Barry Levine
Ecology/Biology Teacher
Newport High School


-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Sandelin [mailto:floriferous at msn.com]
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 11:11 AM
To: 'Tweeters'
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Squirrels vs Birds


One of the things I have observed twice in the past three years is
douglas squirrels eating baby birds. On one occaision it was a baby
junco, on another it was a baby Robin. I did not observe either been
taken from the nest, but in both cases adult birds were actively
swooping and alarm calling. I have wondered often how much predation
birds take from squirrels. It would seem once a squirrel located a nest,
it could freely take all the young, at least from the smaller birds. I
imagine a larger bird such as a crow or hawk would be able to discourage
squirrels. I once observed a pair of crows in May diving and yelling at
a gray squirrel for about 5 minutes. The squirrel moved hastily away
from the area and eventually the crows gave up.

Any ideas about how common mammal predation on our local birds really
is?

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, writer

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