Interesting: this has been a regular 'show' at the Fill for a couple of weeks, and it can go on for half an hour at a time, sometimes with just one crow doing the intermittent chasing, but sometimes with a second or even third crow 'spelling' the first. Initially I assumed it was predatory behavior on the crow's part, then noticed that some chases appeared to have been initiated by the Killdeer: defense of nesting territory? This Killdeer is pretty faithful to an area covered with cedar chips just north of the path from the Dime Lot to the Urban Horticulture building, and can often be located there, sitting in a shallow scrape in the chips -- no eggs detectable, and I've only seen one Killdeer at a time, for what it's worth, but Killdeer have nested very close to there in the past. However, in the recent rainy and windy weather, the Killdeer and several members of the Fill's crow population could occasionally be seen huddled close together in what shelter there was and taking no notice of each other. I've begun to wonder whether there's an element of play here -- or distraction practice? Given the fauna of Montlake Fill, including the couple of hundred crows that make the Fill their evening roost, I can't believe a clutch of Killdeer eggs, however cryptic, would last half a day before they became a nourishing snack for something. Interested to hear what others might make of the chasing behavior....

I'm sure nobody is surprised that the turn of speed the flying Killdeer puts on when a crow catches up with it takes it well out of harm's way in a fraction of a second: more evidence that the Killdeer is leading the crow on?

James West
Seattle


----- Original Message -----
From: Margaret Parkinson
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2006 1:03 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Killdeer and Crows.


I had a wonderful time at the Fill on Tuesday-as always. I noticed something new for me and wonder what was going on. There were a lot of crows feeding off of the ground in the area where wood chips have been spread around newly planted trees. I heard a Killdeer flying by and when I found it, it was being chased violently by a crow. I watched for some time a saw that the chase would go on for a while, then the Killdeer would land and peck away or, on one occasion, even sit down on the ground as if to rest. Then again, a single crow would start to harass it again and a flying chase would start up again. This pattern repeated for 15 minutes or so and was continuing when I had to leave. I could not tell if it was the same crow each time but it was always only one and the others paid not attention what so ever. (Unlike the group chase that went on by crows on a Red Tailed Hawk earlier in my walk.)

Margaret Parkinson
University District
Seattle.



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