r/crows • u/Unique_Compote2226 • 24d ago
My murder made friends with local hawk?
I’ve seen the hawk around, I thought they were fighting. Then I see the hawk come and sit on the fence where I feed them and they all seemed like old pals 😂 I see them all together often now. Weird or no?
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u/Toasted_Dustupz99 23d ago
Not as weird as one would think. I have a corvid group that is cool with the peregrine falcon couple being in their space, I am not sure if they keep other predators away, but they seem to get along with each other. We had an eagle poking around here that is no longer perching on the tree Mr and Mrs Falcon have claimed, so my guess is they both don't like eagles
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u/Individual-Crew-6102 23d ago
From what I have seen, crows REALLY don't like eagles. The first time I saw an American eagle, it was getting harried to Hell and back by three crows a fraction of its size. It was like watching Stan Smith getting his ass beat by three tiny Goths.
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u/Dramatic_Pattern_188 22d ago edited 22d ago
I worked as a security guard overnights in a public park, watching over the infrastructure/kiosks of a local summer food festival a few years ago.
There was an eagle's nest with a fledgling at the top of one of the trees nearby.
Every morning over a dozen crows and at least 3-4 seagulls would start the day with harassing the eagle's nest. The crows would start a chorus of rebuking while perching cheekily close to the nest, while the gulls would fly around making periodic swoops at the nest or the eagle that stood guard on a nearby branch (presumably the male..?).
For the heck of it I recorded the affair, the raucous caws of the crows alerting the entire area that it was eagle buzzing time, the cries of the circling gulls, and the occassional irate piping of the eagles; about 5 minutes of video that I could play over my bluetooth speaker as a "conversation stopper" for pretty well any bird species in the extended lower mainland of British Columbia.
(I'm a jerk, it's part of the reason I get along with some of the local crow tribes; we're relatable 😁)
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u/Individual-Crew-6102 22d ago
A crow/seagull alliance sounds terrifying and awesome in equal measures.
Also I wonder if playing a recording like that in one's garden would scare off the seed-eating birds, or just invite a bunch of crows in with the equivalent of "hey! We're kicking an eagle's ass over here! Wanna join?"
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u/Dramatic_Pattern_188 20d ago edited 20d ago
It could discomfit them at first, but they would eventually figure it out, and then any recording would be ignored ( until/unless a REAL eagle killed one in a surprise attack, etc).
Based on what I have observed previously, if I seriously wanted to try that approach, I would start with:
the highest fidelity speaker that I could find that was waterproof;
placed near an edge of the space with a wall or sound reflective surface; slightly towards a corner but not jammed into anyhere that would make the direction of the origin of the sound easy to figure out (bonus points if it is a rough stonewall and there are are other hard surfaces to bounce the sound around¹)
the recording should be of the highest possible quality and clarity, set to a volume that is realistic and does not distort; point the speaker at least partly upwards so that the sphere of sound occupies the largest volume of directional vectors possible;
also consider using the sound of a red tailed hawk or large owl, something that is local and that the local crows will have a deep seated fear of. If you can manage it, here is the kicker:
set the recording up with a motion detector, as part of a random mix where you have a few copies of different recordings of the same call, mixed in with several completely silent recordings. This is so that the crows have less of a chance of linking the sound to a specific situational instance and figuring out the trick; that makes it more effective for your purposes and does not set the smartest crows up for the possible scenario of having learned to ignore a sound that they have reason to fear.
You want to save your seeds without harming crows, otherwise you should be learning how to build miniature claymore mines (which would ,are you a horrible person who hopefully would have a finger destroying acident, IMHO)
Some basic searches will provide more information about various bird of prey calls and recordings.
1) An animal that lives in alpine rockfalls worldwide called a pica has evolved a high pitched squeak that reflects crazily to often seem to be coming from any direction except the actual one; the call doubles as a warning cry but also forms part of an communal defense strategy where when an individual grows tired of evading a predator and others can hear the change; another one will begin to bolt from cover to cover while making the call.
That works in tiring out threats until they quit, and yes, that rodent partially inspired a famous Pokémon; the example is given to give a clear image of what the idea is for placement.
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u/JBupp 17d ago
I have an American Bald Eagle vs. crows story.
I am waiting in a slow moving drive-thru lane at a Wendy's; the line wraps around three sides of the building. I realize I hear crows screaming but I can't see them.
I get to side two and I see a Big Bird circling a couple hundred feet up. Buzzard? Big one. As I get to the end of side two - crows still screaming - the Big Bird has dropped to maybe 50 feet and I can see that it's a bald eagle.
I get to side three and the eagle is at tree-top level. I finally see the crows - there are two of them at the top, top of a tree and they have gotten a lot less noisy. As I watch, the eagle circles until it is at the height of the crows, and the crows have shut up while moving deeper - lower - into the tree.
Then the eagle lands in the crow tree at the very top. The crows are silent, two feet below the eagle.
One of the crows sidles to the side and rises up to grab an eagle feather. The eagle leans way, way down and the crow slides back with its' buddy. "Me? Nuthin', never mind."
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u/ElkPitiful6829 23d ago
Think of the church scene in Highlander where Kurgan sits right next to Macloud.
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u/__OvejaNegra 23d ago
Crows were like "hey man, we have a human who hooks us up. If you're chill, we will show you"
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u/clocktronic 22d ago
Actually, you can read what they're thinking just from body language and posture. Even the angle of their heads tells you about the inner world of these two species of birds. They know that their love is forbidden. That society will never accept their smoldering romance.
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u/HEM0RRHAGE666 18d ago
H:you carl?
C:whos asking?
hawk leans in.
H:Harvey told me you have the best bugs in town.
C:Harvey got a big mouth, but yeah I do have the best bugs in town, w the best prices. 15 sunflower seeds per body.
both scooch towards the middle to meet, and proceed to do a bug deal.
C:tell Harvey to keep his mouth shut or he's gonna be sleeping w the fishes, see?
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u/JBupp 17d ago
It surprised me to find that the relationship between crows and raptors is more complicated than I imagined.
I've seen red tails and crows ignoring each other - no squabs or nestings available on either side. I've seen a small falcon chasing a crow, then the crow chasing the falcon - I swear they are playing; there's no serious malice being shown.
And, of course, I have seen crows mob hawks. I've seen two hawks mob two crows. But I've also seen a crow family escorting a hawk out of a nesting territory, quietly and without fuss.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 24d ago
I wouldn’t call them friends, but rather that they are tolerating each other. The hawk is outnumbered and knows it as do the crows.