Yesterday 4 crows were working through the neighborhood. Two of them would
perch high in trees while the other two swirled low around branches and at
shrub level, I suspect hunting for fledglings. At one point, one of the
lower crows spooked a flycatcher off a nest, it flew the opposite direction
after the crow had flown past. The crow at the top of the nearest tree began
calling, and all 4 crows converged, with much vocalizing, in the area where
the flycatcher had just left. I could not see what was happening and two of
the crows flew off, but with nothing noticeable in their beaks. I wondered
if crows were smart enough to coordinate a hunting party, with two birds as
lookouts to tell all what turns up?

Later the four crows were at it again and I was able to notice that the
crows rotated positions, the high perchers would fly down and become
searchers and one of the searchers would perch. On one hand, the whole
episode could have just been random, and if it had been any other bird other
than crows I would not wonder if indeed they were cooperatively hunting.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
Snohomish County, WA