Crows treating blackbirds as friends or food?
May 21st, 2008 by Birdy Trish
Every day I see crows and blackbirds together in my garden. There are also rooks. There are more rooks than crows.
The crows don’t seem to take any notice of the blackbirds. Neither do the rooks.
The blackbirds don’t seem frightened of the crows.
The blackbirds, rooks and crows land together and if something frightens them, they fly off together.
Yet, and this is the strange thing, I have seen a crow eating a blackbird.
I have had a lady write to me saying she saw a crow catch a live blackbird to eat.
Does anyone else have crows / rooks / blackbirds together in their garden or in a park nearby, or in a town centre.
Tags: blackbirds, crows, eating
Funny you should mention about crows in the garden with other birds, We seem to have a resident crow who frequently visits our pond, I have put bread out for the birds Mr. Crow picks up a piece and puts in the water to soften it, then proceeds to eat it, plus any fish food that may be left floating. He has been eating along side blackbirds, sparrows, starlings and pigeons but the other day I saw him (or maybe another crow) on top of a roof where starlings had settled and he caught a young starling the noise was deafening from the other birds, but he just flew off with the bird in his beak to eat it at his discretion with the starlings following him.
hmmm strange that- because we have blue tits, sparrows, starlings, blackbirds,crows and squirrels that get along great. We have most nesting in our walls.
Actually there’s this other real cute tiny weeny bird as well that i have no idea of. =D
Hello Hyjh, Good to hear about your wildlife.
I can almost picture them. Maybe there is enough food for all of them so they can get along fine.
Can you describe the small bird. Is it colourful.
Do you live in England?
Trisha
Hi Elaine, Fascinating that Mr Crow knows to put bread in water to soften it. They really must be clever birds.
Crows are clever and savage. Just think - they are hungry so they turn to a live bird nearby and eat it!
We can’t comprehend them can we?
Trisha
I was wondering if it was magpie that was seen eating the black bird, as they are quite vicious birds.
My friend was sat in Cirencester Park, and she witnessed a sparrowhawk swoop down on a small bird, and to her amazement the crow came to the birds rescue, whether the little bird survived the trauma is another question.
I always thought crows were more of scavengers, a bit like Red Kites
Crows eating blackbirds. Crows sitting next to a variety of birds and then suddenly and eating a starling. Crow chasing a Sparrow hawk away. Do you think maybe the crow wanted the smaller bird to himself so he could eat it or do you think he was just saving it. Thanks Gail for this weird sighting and for sharing it with us.
Hi Trish
Interesting to read about the Crow dunking its bread before eating.
I can tell you that “Ronnie” Rook always dips the seed, chicken or even carrion into the water before consuming it. This must be a preferred habit to help the morsel go down?
Ronnie doing ever so well and eating all that is put in front of it. I would say that if a Crow or similar could catch a smaller bird, the smaller bird must be ailing. However, I know the Crow/Rook can eat a small mouse/sparrow with very little effort. When I put the odd recovered kill, from the cats, in with Ronnie it is gone within minutes (I mean everything!).
I see how Elaine’s experience would be surprising but totally expectable of the Crow family.
Crows/Rooks are opportunists whether it be carrion or live, if they can get a meal they will eat it.
Regards, Andy
I meant to say Sparrow Hawk, and the crow saved the small bird
Hi Gail, It’s still amazing that a crow swooped down on a sparrowhawk. I’d have thought that a sparrowhawk could kill a crow. But maybe crows and sparrowhawks are about equal. I’ll change the wording on your first note if that’s OK.
Sparrowhawks swoop and attack other birds. I don’t think people associate crows with attacking other birds - but they do. So could both sparrowhawks and crows be birds of prey I wonder
Thanks for getting in touch again Gail. We catch glimpses of birds don’t we and then they flit off again and there are so many types of bird. Don’t know if you feed birds or have any near you - but there are plenty of birds both in the countryside and in the town aren’t there. Best. Trisha
Hi Andy - Ronnie dips things into water - interesting. We often get crows / rooks hopping near the edge of our garden pond. Wonder if they need more water than we realise.
Glad ronnie is doing well. So a rook and a cat have one thing in common - they can both down a meal in one go!
We had a stray cat once and I often saw it pounce into the long grass and swallow a mouse in one go!
Thinking about it I suppose every bird is an opportunist - even the small garden bird.