It only takes one crow to make a mob

They just can’t help it. If Hooded Crows see a raptor they’ll chase it, harry it, mob it and otherwise make its life as unpleasant as possible.

This week I’ve seen seven of them chasing a Common Buzzard which was harassed the whole time as it flew over their territory and a full nine of them flapping around a Sparrowhawk as it swooped into a nearby pine, making all the Monk Parakeets and Starlings leave it in a flap. One evening three hundred Hooded Crows came to this spot to roost. I didn’t see the Kestrels at all then.

This Hooded Crow lives side-by-side with a pair of Common Kestrels and aerial battles are a daily occurrence.

I particularly love this shot, as the Kestrel looks at the Hooded Crow as if to ask “You again! Why?”

Sometimes the order is reversed and it appears that the Kestrel is chasing the Hooded Crow. I think the Hooded Crow is just getting out in front.

Occasionally I wonder if there might be food involved for some of the mobbing. When the Kestrels have a successful hunt and fly out of the grass with a grasshopper, the Crows descend upon them. But then they do much the same when the hunt hasn’t been successful as well.

It must be tiring and frustrating having your entire day dominated by cawing objection.

The Kestrels call,”Kee-kee-kee-kee” as they are mobbed. It’s a privilege to watch a ritual which repeats on this small patch of green every day.