Wow... I got to experience an even more brutal slice of avian nature than the
time I saw the raptor nail a smaller bird a couple of years ago. I was walking
Hudson the wonder dog when we noticed a commotion on a roof where several robins
were all hopping about making agitated noises. It quickly became apparent what
was going on when a crow landed in their midst holding one of their mates in his
mouth. He lazily took off again, obviously unconcerned that the smaller birds
could actually do anything about the abduction, and slowly made his way off with
several robins giving noisy, but futile chase. It's more comforting seeing
nature take its own course rather than having critters become roadkill and such,
but I certainly felt bad for the robins over their lost battle and comrade.
Seeing how small and helpless the captured bird looked in the crow's beak gave
me that much more respect for the feistiness of blue jays as well, as they are
about the same size as robins, but I regularly see jays actually chasing crows
in the ongoing battles for domination of the skies of suburbia.
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