The crows & starlings are seriously going at it. Normally they leave each other alone. Sometimes they screech at each other a bit.
For the last 10-15 minutes there have been a gang of starlings and three crows going at it. Not just screeching. There’s physical dive bombing going on. The crows, being much larger and easily irritated, usually would just fly away. But today they’re standing their ground. These starlings are seriously pissed.
I walked over to the tree where the main fight was occuring, thinking maybe I could break it up. Nope. The fight just moved to the rooftop, then to another tree, then back to the original tree.
After a little investigation, I found a dead starling. It’s not a chick either. Looks more or less adult. Seems the crows may have had something to do with it, and the starlings aren’t about to let the crows near it.
The pigeons & scrub jays vacated the area. They don’t any part in this fight.
Rooting for the crows, here… getting rid of an invasive little pest. This time of year, the crows are seeking out nests to rob, and you’ll hear them getting harrassed almost as much as they are harrassing the hawks and owls.
I was going to say I understand why people would hate starlings. Most places I’ve lived I hated them too. They’re a real nuisance. But not in my yard. They’re rarely around.
Now that I think of it, maybe the reason they aren’t a nuisance in my yard is because the crows chase them off. If so, then I guess I have to root for the crows too.
It’s just normally the crows chase the other birds off and hog most of the food, so sometimes I have to stand there & let the the smaller birds eat before letting the crows swoop in.
The update: Fighting as largely subsided. The pigeons have tentatively returned. One crow has returned. Still sounds of scattered fighting in surrounding yards, but Bahrain er… I mean my yard is mostly quiet now.
Another vote for the crows here; I can’t stand starlings. They always used to beat up the sparrows in my grandfather’s backyard when he fed them bread. Stupid starlings.
The fight in my garden is between the blackbirds and magpies. I’m on the side of the blackbirds, if I hear the blackbird’s alert call (is there a proper term for this?) I pop out and chuck things in the magpies general direction – a bit like the Tom and Jerry episode where Jerry gets the bulldog minder “Just whistle little pal”.
I think the blackbirds have a nest nearby but it’s also possible they attack the magpies on general principle.
I saw a crow face off against a cat the other day! he was on the ground just 4-5 feet away, and they just strutted and stared at each other as the crow screamed at the cat, get off my property! I almost always root for the crows!
Why don’t you like magpies? I think they’re handsome birds. We have a couple in the area. They don’t come into my yard, though.
nyctea, that doesn’t surprise me. My cat won’t face off with any bird that can squawk at him loud enough. Yesterday when the fight was going on, the cat ran in the house. Too dangerous out there!
That site seems a bit one-sided. It hasn’t been proven that magpies are responsible for the decline in songbirds.
But in my garden they’re definitely looking for the blackbird’s nest. They’re also very common around here, I often see groups large enough that the rhyme runs out of numbers.
Where we used to live, a colony of starlings moved into a palm tree in the corner of our backyard. They were a noisy, messy bunch of pests who resisted all our attempts to eradicate them. Then a nesting pair of sparrow hawks moved into the neighborhood, and happily feasted on said starlings. Many times we’d see one of these little falcons chasing a frantically chirping starling through our backyard in a sort of bloodthirsty avian dogfight. After the kill, the triumphant sparrow hawk would perch atop our garage and pluck the starling and scatter its feathers. The neighbors probably thought we were bloodthirsty ghouls, as we would audibly congratulate and cheer the little hawks on their success.
I get to listen to sea lions all night long. I prolly wouldn’t notice a bird here or there. I adapt to night noises fairly well. Except for that one scrub jay that likes to sit in the tree right outside my window and start squawking really loud. But he usually waits until the sun is coming up, so he’s more of an obnoxious alarm clock I can’t hit snooze.