Disturbing but interesting videos - Page 2

05-10-2007, 09:54 AM

Lara - I have seen that behavior here in our ravens/crows. They are VERY territorial, and they DO pick on rival flocks. Many Many times when I see this behavior it is against a HAWK, but I have seen them do it to others of their own species. They drive hawks away fast. There's been full on multiple flock battles that I have seen. They even picked on a black lab that visited me for awhile, they were relentless, I don't know if it was because of the dog's color, but I assume it was, because they left the other dogs alone. My birds HATE the ravens, and call out "hawk" when they see them... though I've never seen the ravens show any interest in the parrots.

Being spring. My educated guess is that this is nest protection behavior.

05-10-2007, 10:08 AM

From what I can tell, it might be two different birds from the Corvus family and both are known to have stolen eggs and chicks from each others nests.
ADW: Corvus brachyrhynchos: Information
and
ADW: Corvus corax: Information

Some of the most interesting and all round informative books that have given me great insight on these birds have been written by Bernd Heinrich:

Ravens in Winter
ISBN 0679732365
and
Mind of the Raven
ISBN 0060930632

I can highly recommend pretty much anything and everything that this gentleman has written. Very easy to read and understand and chock full of stuff.

Those were cool vids and good job on catching that, just goes to show that bird folks are just more aware of their surroundings and environment.
Lots of hugs coming your way there.

05-10-2007, 12:16 PM

I love Ravens! We have quite a few around here, and they are fascinating birds. They figure prominently in Norse Mythology, where the god Odin had twin Ravens, Hugin, who represented thought, and Munin who represented memory. They sat on his shoulders and guided him. In some native American religions Raven is regarded as the creator, and made the first land. He is also known as a trickster, and is a powerful and demanding totem.

Sometimes when they are flying low, you can hear the air whooshing through their wings even before you see them. Seeing a Raven always raises my spirits.

05-10-2007, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quito's Qage

I love Ravens! We have quite a few around here, and they are fascinating birds. They figure prominently in Norse Mythology, where the god Odin had twin Ravens, Hugin, who represented thought, and Munin who represented memory. They sat on his shoulders and guided him. In some native American religions Raven is regarded as the creator, and made the first land. He is also known as a trickster, and is a powerful and demanding totem.

Sometimes when they are flying low, you can hear the air whooshing through their wings even before you see them. Seeing a Raven always raises my spirits.

Nate, then you would really love those books as they were also actually written right in your neck of the woods in Maine. They are two of my favorite books about birds.

05-10-2007, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graehstone

Nate, then you would really love those books as they were also actually written right in your neck of the woods in Maine. They are two of my favorite books about birds.

Thanks Mike, I'll look 'em up!

05-10-2007, 06:54 PM

OK...as promised... my husband has looked at it and also my 23 year old son... And they both have suggested ... that it is a hawk attacking a crow...! Hawk 2 crows and the one that was knocked silly temporally was the crow... Crows as mentioned before are notorious for egg & chick stealing. And the boys have suggested that the crow was being punished for that and also being taught a lesson... the hawk will definitely defend it's territory... and make the lesson hurt... if it doers not kill him...I am glad you did get that video it was very cool... the boys really did enjoy it... it is not something you see everyday... but we do know it happens.... survival of the fittest...you know!

Well that is my input... thanks for sharing...

05-10-2007, 07:42 PM

I'm so glad you guys liked the videos. I thought of everyone here when I whipped out the camera and started recording.

Mike, thanks for the references to the two books. I'm on a mission to find them now. Your recommendations are always excellent.

Denise,
To me, all three birds looked the same color. I just assumed they were all the same species but could very well be wrong. Thanks for having your husband and son take a look at them. Glad you guys enjoyed them.

05-25-2007, 07:56 AM

the last video if you listen you can hear a what we call ravens here they are one steup up from a crow. both are notorous stealers of eggs and younguns in a nest...When I was living in the family home 2 years ago I saw that very thing happen and this crow flew over myhead with a baby blackbird in its mouth. Its what will fit into its mouth. they also steal other breed of young ones.

They will gang together if they can where they will try to distract the one sitting on eggs or babies so the other can fly in and take one or the other.

I live in the Okangan Valley in British Columbia and these two birds are everywhere.. the blackbird is yet smaller, then we have the cow birds which are brown rather than black then we have the crows and then ravens ravens are humungus birds.scavengers.

if you listen on the third video you can hear the raven or crow make a sound

thats what I see and hear lolol

05-25-2007, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lavender954

the last video if you listen you can hear a what we call ravens here they are one steup up from a crow. both are notorous stealers of eggs and younguns in a nest...When I was living in the family home 2 years ago I saw that very thing happen and this crow flew over myhead with a baby blackbird in its mouth. Its what will fit into its mouth. they also steal other breed of young ones.

They will gang together if they can where they will try to distract the one sitting on eggs or babies so the other can fly in and take one or the other.

I live in the Okangan Valley in British Columbia and these two birds are everywhere.. the blackbird is yet smaller, then we have the cow birds which are brown rather than black then we have the crows and then ravens ravens are humungus birds.scavengers.

if you listen on the third video you can hear the raven or crow make a sound

thats what I see and hear lolol

Thanks so much for your input and information. Very interesting.

So when you said, the crow flew over your head with the baby blackbird in it's mouth. Was it to steal it and raise it as it's own or are you talking to kill it or......?

05-25-2007, 09:03 PM

I hate to say this but it was using it as dinner.. we have many nests around the family home. and of course thats where all the hawks eagles and larger birds like ravens and crows would congregate for dinner. We actually had to quite feeding the smaller outdoor birds for a while so that the larger birds would find somewhere else to feed.

The family home was out in the country so we had our fair share of yellow finches. red finches.. jonchos in the winter.. lots of wrens. as well as blackbirds and of course all their young . I will post a picture of a pygmy owl that has just downed a joncho for dinner. as am not set up for images at this moment.. will do that after this..