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.
![Hooded Crow - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Hooded-Crow-The-Hall-of-Einar-1-1-725x408.jpg)
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.
![Hooded Crow and Kestrel - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Hooded-Crow-and-Kestrel-The-Hall-of-Einar-2-725x483.jpg)
I particularly love this shot, as the Kestrel looks at the Hooded Crow as if to ask “You again! Why?”
![Hooded Crow and Kestrel - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Hooded-Crow-and-Kestrel-The-Hall-of-Einar-3-725x483.jpg)
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.
![Hooded Crow and Kestrel - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Hooded-Crow-and-Kestrel-The-Hall-of-Einar-5-725x483.jpg)
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.
![Hooded Crow and Kestrel - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Hooded-Crow-and-Kestrel-The-Hall-of-Einar-6350-725x483.jpg)
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.