I always find life's coincidences interesting. Last night I attended an excellent lecture at Nisqually Nat'l Wildlife Refuge entitled "In the Company of Crows and Ravens," also a book. This morning, I came to work early because I had to do a bird survey. As I parked in my parking space, I noticed a crow being dived by 2 flickers. It took me a minute before I realized that the reason wasn't proximity to the flicker nest, but that the crow had a juvenile flicker in its clutches. Despite my unwritten rule, I decided to intervene (no lectures, please). The crow was pecking a bit at the flicker and as I approached, the crow flew about 15 feet with the flicker held in its bill (tough first flight!). All the time the parents were really swooping and buzzing the crow. When the crow landed it released the juvenile (I think it was more than the crow could fly with) and the juvenile took refuge among 3 tree trunks. It seemed okay, just a little bit worse for the experience. The parents kept harassing the crow for a few minutes and then I tried to discourage it a bit. However, as I expected, the crow stayed around the area. Sorry, but don't know how the story ended because I had to get going on my survey.


When I got to the airfield for the survey, I noticed the female western bluebird from a nearby nest box on the pavement. She seemed to have just caught a bug. She started to move towards the grass and as she did a cliff swallow came in low and buzzed her in an apparent attempt to get the food. The swallow dove about 2 more times before the bluebird got into cover in the grass. This year has been a rough nesting season for many bird species in the area. This bluebird and her mate previously lost 5 young to starvation. They are now trying to raise 6 youngsters. However, I've noticed a greatly reduced bug supply in the area. If this swallow was trying to rob a bluebird of its food, things must be tough. I've never seen this behavior from a swallow before. Anyone have any comments/observations to share with the tweeters group?



Valerie Elliott

Olympia, WA