Air Arms Owners Club

I think I posted ages ago about a local crow that seems to actively pursue woodpigeons. Today I saw him make a very definite kill.
Woodies are feeding on the field near me in quite large numbers, it's grass with clover or chickweed, now thick after the first cut and the pigeons are out of sight from my level but not to the crow! I've watched him sitting in the orchard next door watching the pigeons on the powerlines, he waits until the birds fly down to feed and then flies low over the field panicking the pigeons who erupt in all directions. The crow seems to select one bird and performs amazing aerobatics to stay with it, the pigeons are faster but the crow is learning! I've seen him get a few beakfuls of feathers quite a few times but no meal.
This afternoon he ambushed a group and scattered them, one bird turned left, the crow turned inside, almost as though he anticipated what was going to happen. he grabbed the woodie by the left wing and hung on, both birds dropped maybe 10 ft into the grass and it was game over bar a bit of flapping.
I felt a bit sorry for the woodie but I have a grudging admiration for the crow, they're not built for speed or aerobatics but intelligence isn't lacking and they are strong! I hope to witness some more attacks and see if his technique improves and maybe even passes on his skills to the other crows.
It's definitely the same bird each time, he has a distinctive white tip on one wing that I can spot quite easily in flight.
Has anyone else ever seen similar?

you may be witnessing evolution tim
as you say, they're a lot further north of just clever

It's amazing how clever they are. If they want it bad enough they'll put the effort in

BBF

Video it !!! I want to see

Raj wrote:Video it !!! I want to see

I wish I could get it on video but it only seems to be 1 or 2 attempts each day and I've only seen one successful ambush so far. If a few other crows start to emulate him I might get lucky. On a side note, having watched the woodies dodging this crow I was really taken by the ability of both species to turn and dodge, it struck me that woodies remind me of Allied aircraft on D Day with the white wing bars showing.
This crow really is a brute of a bird though, bigger all over than any other crows around here.

I have seen them take sparrows and starlings but nothing as big as a pigeon.
Kevin

Are you sure its not a peregrine in a crow suit

eboswan wrote:Are you sure its not a peregrine in a crow suit

I think this particular corvid makes peregrines look like a friendly cockatiel!

My daughter left a pumpkin under a tree out in front of the house. Mind you that this was left after Halloween and it is a white colored one. It's still there, but Saturday morning I was looking out the front window when 10-12 crows just landed all at once and began to circle around the pumpkin. After a few minutes they flew away and i am still left to wonder, what was that all about.

We get a red kite or two over us and the crows mob them quite violently. Occasionally the kite turns over tallons up to strike but they still have a go.