I have twice seen crows congreate and seem to "have a vigil" above a fallen member. It was noticable because of the large number of SILENT crows gathered just "watching". And I had a friend that reported a similar instance. Crows aren't particularly small, but they are part of the songbird family.


Christine Southwick
N Seattle/ Shoreline
clsouthwick at q.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On Sun, 10 Oct 2010, Rob Sandelin wrote:

> Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:40:36 -0700
> From: Rob Sandelin <nwnature1 at gmail.com>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: [Tweeters] Reaction to death or coincidence? Odd Towhee call
>
> Today I thought I had a new bird in my yard, as there was a call I had never
> heard before coming from some shrubs near a window. It turned out to be a
> Towhee, making a very unique call I had never heard before. It was perched
> on a branch, calling over and over again. I noticed something on the ground
> almost underneath the bird, which turned out to be a window killed
> Towhee....I wondered if the odd repeated call was some kind of reaction to
> the other birds death, or just an odd coincidence. I have never heard about
> any sort of mourning behavior from songbirds before but then again, there
> are lots of things I have never heard about. I have heard of swans
> reacting to the death of a mate but nothing about smaller birds.
>
> Rob Sandelin
> Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
> Snohomish County
>
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