Was watching one having a go at a Heron yesterday which was about four times its size. They seem to have an irrational hatred of them. What’s the reason for this because I’ve never seen them ever going for any other species of bird?

Google suggests simply defending territory/treating Heron as a threat.

Plus just pure evilness 😉

They go after Buzzards as well

Herons are tossers.

And eagles. Watched 4 crows mob a fish eagle in Vancouver. Crows are pretty quick and manoeuvrable, so they can take the piss quite hard out of bigger, nastier birds. Think gang of scallies throwing coke cans at a big dude on a bike.

Herons are tossers.

+1

Herons eat crows.

Magpies and squirrels don’t get on either.

Crows have a very strong dislike for avian predators which might offer them competition. They have specific alarm calls to warn each other of the presence of a bird of prey which actually vary depending on whether it is an inferior predator or a superior predator, ie, an eagle might pose a serious challenge to them but a kestrel can be easily dealt with. Neither can be ignored as far as a crow is concerned. Herons might not appear to provide crows with obvious competition but crows will fish at the water edge for fish, newts, frogs, etc.

Clever sods corvids

They attack red kites in the Chilterns

‘Cause de is blik!

Pigface – Member
Clever sods corvids

Toads have been exploding by the hundred in Germany because they are being attacked by crows, a veterinary surgeon said today.

Animal welfare workers and veterinarians had reported that as many as 1,000 toads had swelled to bursting point and exploded in recent days, propelling their entrails up to a metre into the air.

Now a veterinary surgeon, Frank Mutschmann, who has examined the remains of the toads, said they had been pierced with a single peck by crows trying to eat their livers. This in turn caused the toads to explode.

“The toads swell up as a form of self-defence. But when their livers are taken away and their stomachs are punctured, their blood vessels explode, their lungs collapse and the other organs come out,” Mutschmann said.

“Crows are intelligent animals. They learn very quickly how to eat the toads’ livers,” he said, adding that between three and five crows could kill around 100 toads.

So many toads have died in a lake in the Altona district of Hamburg that it has been dubbed “the pond of death”.

More on the clever sods: http://www.pbs.org/lifeofbirds/brain/

In case anyone hasn’t seen it before :

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0[/video]

Herons will often take eggs or small chicks from nests when the opportunatey arises. So crows will harry them to move them out of the colonies territory. Interesting enough while they will also attack birds of prey, some colonies will tolerate a single buzzards nest in their territory, as it will keep most other birds of prey out of the territory.

Basically then, crows are just rock hard and will hassle most birds? I quite like Herons even though I have a pond. They do look pretty good in flight. Crows must be the avian version of a cage fighter then.

Crows will mob other Corvids, too. I’ve watched a small flock harassing a raven up near the Ridgeway above Avebury.
They see the ravens as a predator, just like raptors. With some justification, ravens are very intelligent, and will eat anything, real opportunists.
Big buggers, too!

‘Cause de is blik!

Racist!

I’ve seen seagulls mobbing Heron too, all the ned birds seem to have it in for our noble grey friends 🙁

Having said that, this video made me laugh, especially the heron clip at 1:20 (lots of swearing)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjxOHkNWb7A[/video]

I was watching 4 crows hassling a buzzard last weekend.

The worst part about it is that after crows have scared off a crane, they do go on about it for ages.

they do go on about it for ages.

What? Like raven on how hard they are?

I’m told they’re as soft as chough

When they’re not hassling cranes they’re out robin stuff.

..sold on the blackbird market.

Sorry 😳

I was watching 4 crows hassling a buzzard last weekend.

Buzzards have no fun. Each one round here is getting it in the neck constantly from two crows (or sometime two lapwings).

Watched one getting mobbed for ages, he eventually gave up and came down and landed on a rock and the two crows landed next to him. He just sat looking dejected with the two crows stood either side of him, silently, giving him the evils.

To even things up a bit, at the start of the summer I watched a Goshawk take a full grown crow off a branch and carry it off. The other crows watching made a hell of a racket for hours.

I used to walk to Durham station every morning and there would often be a heron stood by the wear waiting for fish to catch. I used to stand and watch – very graceful birds. there was a gul that lived there too who used to dive bomb the heron and screech at him. the heron would just casually duck or step out of the way. I liked him.

The anthropologist Conrad Lorenz tells the story in his book King Solomon’s Ring of how he was attacked by crows while walking back from a swimming place in the river. Later he worked out that they had seen his shiny black swimming trunks hanging limply in his hand and thought he was carrying an injured crow so they attacked him.

OOps double post.

Herons are tossers.

+2

I for one, welcome our new Corvid overlords.