4 ms·

I live in a place where I get to witness epic battles between a murder of crows and a colony of seagulls on a daily basis this time of the year. The seagulls

by tpmx 5y ago

I live in a place where I get to witness epic battles between a murder of crows and a colony of seagulls on a daily basis this time of the year. The seagulls are nesting on the roofs of nearby houses. The crows are trying to eat the seagull hatchlings. It's kind of fascinating to watch. It seems like the crows are trying new strategies every new day. The much larger seagulls are wasting lots of energy in a kinda stupid way, the crows are chilling most of the time.

monkeycantype 5y ago
That sounds like an awesome nature documentary. Where is this?
- tpmx 5y ago
  South-eastern Sweden, at the coast.
xanadohnt 5y ago
Crow are the full embodiment of "evil genius".
- tejtm 5y ago
  They are thought to have come from little Australian songbirds who came on hard times like everything else when their environment went full desert on them, unlike the other nice birds that accepted their doom they leveled up and started eating their neighbors eggs for extra protein and fewer competitors it has been a remarkable successful strategy and they (like us) took it on the road and spread around the globe
rantwasp 5y ago
i got to witness a murder of crow harassing 2 bald eagles until the eagles just gave up and left. we’re not even talking a lot. There were maybe 6-7 crows. The theory I heard is the bald eagle(s) could easily take them on but they risk injury and the crows will try to mess them up. So the eagles just don’t risk it and move on + hunt things that don’t fight back (like rabbits). also, I can swear that crows taunt my dog who does not like them and will bark/try to catch them. it’s like watching a comedy show with the crows doing something to provoke the dog and literally “laughing” afterwards.
- YZF 5y ago
  Around here (BC, Canada) you'll see a single crow chasing away a bald eagle. They get very aggressive when they're protecting their nests.
  - amanaplanacanal 5y ago
    I’m south of you in Oregon, and I’ve seen a single crow chase away a red tailed Hawk. It’s definitely a strange sight.
    - YZF 5y ago
      The eagles are somewhat less maneuverable- crows are very nimble flyers. I just saw a crow on my walk today land backwards in the wind. They can avoid the claws and beak... Sort of like a monkey harassing a tiger. They'll actually pull feathers off the eagle. Every now and then the eagles pull some crazy moves though to get away, they'll tilt sideways and fall. It's like a move you might see in fighter jet dogfights. Around here harriers also get harassed by the crows.
      - Cosmin_C 5y ago
        At first I read it like the crows in your area are harassing Harrier jump jets.
        rantwasp 5y ago
        That’s how I read it at first. I was like: wow, this crow stories are getting out of hand
  - rantwasp 5y ago
    lol. the eagle is something like: whatever man, I don't need this shift :)
  - ficklepickle 5y ago
    A single crow chased me off recently by swooping at my head repeatedly. I was just walking down a sidewalk in Vancouver, minding my own business. It must have had a nest in the tree above the sidewalk.
CapsAdmin 5y ago
Same here, except I haven't seen crows stealing eggs. We've observed a herring gull mother protecting her eggs until they've hatched. We never saw her leaving the nest. At most we've observed other seagulls being chased away by the partner. There are 2 common seagulls here who get very excited sometimes. They fly around and make short calls in sync with eachother. Last week I saw them chasing a hooded crow around just outside my window, but I'm kinda unsure if it's play since I've seen them sit relatively close to each other without caring. But for some very strange reason, one of the hooded crow seems to HATE me. If I walk down the street here he'll follow and scream at me. He'll sometimes sit outside my window from afar and watch me too. He'll follow me as far as his territory goes (around 300 meters in diameter) It's the strangest thing that's ever happened to me. It's like I did something really bad to him. I've gone out to see him a few times out of curiosity. I tried giving him food and he does take it eventually, but it doesn't seem like that's what he's there for.
- londons_explore 5y ago
  Geese have an angry-defending-the-nest mode and an eating-food mode that are mutually exclusive. Eating food overrides, which means with just a small handful of goose food you can wander up to a nest and do whatever you like without being threatened by mother goose. Beware the moment the food runs out, defend-the-nest mode is reenabled and you'll get viciously attacked. Kinda odd - I guess no predators think to make use of this by bringing some food!

by tpmx 5y ago

monkeycantype 5y ago

That sounds like an awesome nature documentary. Where is this?

tpmx 5y ago
South-eastern Sweden, at the coast.

xanadohnt 5y ago

Crow are the full embodiment of "evil genius".

tejtm 5y ago
They are thought to have come from little Australian songbirds who came on hard times like everything else when their environment went full desert on them, unlike the other nice birds that accepted their doom they leveled up and started eating their neighbors eggs for extra protein and fewer competitors it has been a remarkable successful strategy and they (like us) took it on the road and spread around the globe

rantwasp 5y ago

i got to witness a murder of crow harassing 2 bald eagles until the eagles just gave up and left. we’re not even talking a lot. There were maybe 6-7 crows. The theory I heard is the bald eagle(s) could easily take them on but they risk injury and the crows will try to mess them up. So the eagles just don’t risk it and move on + hunt things that don’t fight back (like rabbits). also, I can swear that crows taunt my dog who does not like them and will bark/try to catch them. it’s like watching a comedy show with the crows doing something to provoke the dog and literally “laughing” afterwards.

YZF 5y ago
Around here (BC, Canada) you'll see a single crow chasing away a bald eagle. They get very aggressive when they're protecting their nests.
- amanaplanacanal 5y ago
  I’m south of you in Oregon, and I’ve seen a single crow chase away a red tailed Hawk. It’s definitely a strange sight.
  - YZF 5y ago
    The eagles are somewhat less maneuverable- crows are very nimble flyers. I just saw a crow on my walk today land backwards in the wind. They can avoid the claws and beak... Sort of like a monkey harassing a tiger. They'll actually pull feathers off the eagle. Every now and then the eagles pull some crazy moves though to get away, they'll tilt sideways and fall. It's like a move you might see in fighter jet dogfights. Around here harriers also get harassed by the crows.
    - Cosmin_C 5y ago
      At first I read it like the crows in your area are harassing Harrier jump jets.
      - rantwasp 5y ago
        That’s how I read it at first. I was like: wow, this crow stories are getting out of hand
- rantwasp 5y ago
  lol. the eagle is something like: whatever man, I don't need this shift :)
- ficklepickle 5y ago
  A single crow chased me off recently by swooping at my head repeatedly. I was just walking down a sidewalk in Vancouver, minding my own business. It must have had a nest in the tree above the sidewalk.

CapsAdmin 5y ago

Same here, except I haven't seen crows stealing eggs. We've observed a herring gull mother protecting her eggs until they've hatched. We never saw her leaving the nest. At most we've observed other seagulls being chased away by the partner. There are 2 common seagulls here who get very excited sometimes. They fly around and make short calls in sync with eachother. Last week I saw them chasing a hooded crow around just outside my window, but I'm kinda unsure if it's play since I've seen them sit relatively close to each other without caring. But for some very strange reason, one of the hooded crow seems to HATE me. If I walk down the street here he'll follow and scream at me. He'll sometimes sit outside my window from afar and watch me too. He'll follow me as far as his territory goes (around 300 meters in diameter) It's the strangest thing that's ever happened to me. It's like I did something really bad to him. I've gone out to see him a few times out of curiosity. I tried giving him food and he does take it eventually, but it doesn't seem like that's what he's there for.

londons_explore 5y ago
Geese have an angry-defending-the-nest mode and an eating-food mode that are mutually exclusive. Eating food overrides, which means with just a small handful of goose food you can wander up to a nest and do whatever you like without being threatened by mother goose. Beware the moment the food runs out, defend-the-nest mode is reenabled and you'll get viciously attacked. Kinda odd - I guess no predators think to make use of this by bringing some food!