In Defence of Crows

[old man emu]

I  watched a pair of eagles (????) thermalling today and a pair of plovers were having a good go at chasing them off. 

 

What I find interesting is that there are several species of birds that come for a feed in the paddocks near my place, but I never see any of them being attacked by large hunting birds. There is a pair of what I think are falcons which lives in an isolated tree near the highway a couple of ks from my place. I see the pair hunting, but they never seem to go far from their home base.

[willedoo]

11 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I  watched a pair of eagles (????) thermalling today and a pair of plovers were having a good go at chasing them off. 

 

What I find interesting is that there are several species of birds that come for a feed in the paddocks near my place, but I never see any of them being attacked by large hunting birds. There is a pair of what I think are falcons which lives in an isolated tree near the highway a couple of ks from my place. I see the pair hunting, but they never seem to go far from their home base.

Until you mentioned birds of prey, I'd never really given them a thought here at my place. I'm on steep hilly country covered in thick timber and now that I think about it, one reason why there's so many smaller species here is because of the protection the terrain and tree cover gives them. The hawks and occasional osprey hunt out on the floodplain adjacent to my place. It's mainly covered in open paddocks or sugar cane. Cane land is a real breeding ground for rodents and it's good open swooping country for the birds of prey. There's nowhere on my place where they could safely swoop with all the tree cover.

[red750]

Not a crow, but...

        Spangled drongo

[old man emu]

Copied this from Wikipedia: The spangled drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus) is a bird of the family Dicruridae. It is the only drongo to be found in Australia.

 

I think I'll go in and edit that second sentence.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I was going to say..many have called me a spangled drongo - and had no idea that species existed.

[nomadpete]

Is the (avian) spangled drongo actually a bird of a very silly disposition?

Maybe there is a reason behind its association with SOME people?

[spacesailor]

Don't be a ' Galah ' .

spzcesailor

[willedoo]

4 hours ago, nomadpete said:

Is the (avian) spangled drongo actually a bird of a very silly disposition?

Maybe there is a reason behind its association with SOME people?

They're very normal birds. If any deserve the title of drongo, it should be the noisy friarbird. The

friarbirds are total drongos.

[old man emu]

5 hours ago, nomadpete said:

Is the (avian) spangled drongo actually a bird of a very silly disposition?

Maybe there is a reason behind its association with SOME people?

The spangled drongo displays uninhibited and sometimes comical behaviour as it swoops and perches in search of insects, small birds, and occasionally, small skinks. It is easily tamed by throwing small pieces of raw meat into the air, when it will accurately swoop and catch them midair. 

 

It sometimes makes astonishingly loud, complex, and entertaining calls that may sound like a "sneeze". The spangled drongo is an amazing mimic, taking most of its vocabulary from the sounds heard in the vicinity and weaving them into a song.

[willedoo]

I only see drongos here two or three times a year. About as frequent as cat bird appearances.

[nomadpete]

I confess my ignorance.. the only drongos I have seen were upright bipedal humanoid types.

[onetrack]

I missed my chance for a great bit of birdwatching video this afternoon. We have quite a number of Red Wattlebirds here, and I love 'em. As well as being the mainlands biggest honeyeater, they're absolute tigers on bugs and spiders, they get right into the bushes and trees, and search out every nook and cranny, even looking at the underside of leaves for food items.

They hang off the fence capping, and look under it for spiders, and pounce on them, the instant they see them.

 

We've got a sizeable native Hibiscus just outside our rear patio, which patio extends about 4M out from the back of the house. There was a Red Wattlebird that flew down from the big Jacaranda that graces our backyard, and into the native Hibiscus, just as I stepped outside the back door (without my phone, of course!). 

 

I watched him for about 3 mins as he jumped and hopped from branch to branch inside the Hibiscus, grabbing a few bugs, and spending a lot of time searching all the leaves and branches intensely.

I'd hate to be a bug when they're around, it would mean a short lifespan!

 

What amused me was, he would regularly stop searching, and let out this loud and raucous "RARRKK!!" noise, possibly trying to frighten bugs or spiders out of their hideyholes.

I had a great view of him as he did this, and I'd have loved to get it on video. But as always, I ducked back inside, grabbed my phone, and just as I got to the back door again - he flew off!

 

They're absolutely fearless and ferocious at defending their territory - especially against bigger birds and the baddies - such as Crows, AND Kookaburras!

I watched one attack a Kookaburra that was sitting on a TV antenna on the house behind our neighbours place, a few days ago. The Kooka was just sitting there minding his own business, possibly looking to spot a rat or a lizard, when "BAM!", this Red Wattlebird came out of nowhere, and attacked him!

 

Then he came back for another good peck, but the Kooka was waiting, and took a big snap at the Wattlebird on the way past! Of course, the Kooka missed, the Wattlebird was too fast and agile.

But about then, the Kooka decided it was time to vacate this unfriendly territory, so he took off!

 

When I was up at my block in the Wheatbelt last week, I watched a Red Wattlebird divebomb a crow - it was amazing to watch. He flew up behind the (departing) crow, then gained altitude, and banked, and went straight down on the crow, like a Spitfire doing a strafing run on an Fw-190!

The crow ducked and swerved, and snapped back, and went into a dive, but the Red Wattlebird kept up the attack, and didn't ease off until the crow was low to the ground!

 

https://ebird.org/species/redwat1

 

Edited October 10 by onetrack

[old man emu]

I'm trying to work out how to establish a relationship with the Magpie couple whose territory includes my place. I'm pretty sure that their base is amongst the denser trees on the other side of the road, but there is a solitary tree close to my front door which they sometimes come to. Yesterday I had some chicken scraps that I threw near the tree. I think they came down and took them, but their visits are so irregular that it's hard to plan when to put out some food for them.

[Litespeed]

Go to their base tree- their home and offer them some raw chicken bits.

 

Just make sure they are at home and see it's you feeding them. They will quickly make friends.

[red750]

[willedoo]

It's sometimes hard to figure out what goes on in bird world. My resident raven has been back here on a daily basis for about four months now. He and his wife lived here for years as they had their yearly broods and my place was their sole territory. Then she disappeared, presumably deceased and the great crow war began. The torresian crows regularly did raids in numbers, and were clearly trying to take over the raven's territory preying on his age and new found single status.

 

Mr. Crow the raven started appearing less frequently, sometimes only once in two weeks rather than his daily presence. Meanwhile the gang of torresian crows were coming up and making a racket and generally making pricks of themselves. At one stage Mr. Crow disappeared for about three months and I assumed he'd died. Then one day he came back and you would see him every two or three days. Now he's found himself a new friend and is back here on a daily basis like he always was in the past. It's also very quiet regarding torresian crows. They only come here occasionally now and usually in small numbers and are easily scared off.

 

I'll never know what really goes on but here's my theory. The old raven was fairly vulnerable during the war when the torresians were trying to drive him out. Now that he's got a new mate he's got a bit of lead in the pencil and incentive to re-establish his original territorial boundaries. How he did it I don't know. Maybe he killed the torresian boss. Cut off the head of the organisation and the body shrinks away possibly. As far as breeding with his new mate, only time will tell there. I still think she's a widow he's found and they are just together for company and security. He's still as active as ever but should be getting toward end of life soon. They're not a long living bird.

[old man emu]

I'm about ready to get involved in a murder of crows.

 

For some reason a pair of parent crows have decided that the area close to my place is a great place to teach their chicks how to hunt for food on the ground. While I consider that decision is an honour for me, what I don't appreciate is that lessons start shortly after sunrise, which is currently around 6:00 am, and I have no need to be awake before 7:00 am. The chicks are still at the stage of calling out to their parents to be fed. I can't get that last bit of sleep due to their crow version of a child's "Mum. Mum. Mum." cries.

[willedoo]

Don't worry ome, the noise will only last until they are weaned, which unfortunately takes a while. The chicks can be real bludgers. For a while after they are fully capable of feeding themselves, they will still try it on with the begging noise expecting the parents to place the food in their mouth for them.

 

The only real alternatives are -

a) kill the crows 

b) drive them away by making loud noises and throwing things at them. This option takes a lot of time and effort on your part with no guarantee of success.

c) put up with being woken early and accept it as part and parcel of living in the country. This is a little bit easier if you can find things to appreciate about having a crow family live near you so that the pros and cons are more in balance.

 

 If they've nested near you they've made that area their territory and there will be a rerun of the breeding cycle every year.

 

[willedoo]

I remember once listening to a lady on the ABC radio promoting a book she'd written. She was city born and bred and did the tree change and moved to the country thinking it would be great. The first morning she was woken up at 5.00 am by an absolute crow racket happening outside. She immediately thought "my god, what have I done moving here". She gradually realised that the only way to live there was, in her words, to 'learn to love the crows'. I can't remember whether that was the title of her book or of just one chapter.

 

After hearing her speak on the radio, I started to take more interest in the crows around my place. I went from trying to scare them off to appreciating having a breeding pair share their lives and territory with me. I've had endless entertainment over the ensuing years observing their habits and capers and getting to know more about them. And yes, they still wake me up early in the morning but it doesn't bug me any more.

[facthunter]

Marvel at the wonder of life and see it as a PLUS.  Nev

[spacesailor]

Just turn the telly news , up louder. 

It's depressing enough for those birds to take a hint .

Or , run your airplane motor just after dawn .

spacesailor

[old man emu]

I know that this will only last a couple of weeks, and I can always pull the bed covers over my head to muffle the sound. I don't want to chase them away. There are more crows about the place which can take over the territory. I would not have been upset if it was a family of Magpies since I love their melodious song. For some reason, I haven't been able to convince the pair which lives close by to relocate their headquarters into the trees close to the hovel.

[spacesailor]

Hovel.my, my.

I thought it was an ' up market Reno ' .

Who would have thought that the poor sods that beat the banks .

Due to Keetings " the recession we have to have " 

Are now millionaires . without owing a cent to his bank friends .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

In all fairness Crows can be hard to love.  Geez space. Sometimes I'm having trouble following your line of thought.   Nev

[spacesailor]

A reply to red750 

" the trees close to the hovel " .

My " hovel "cost less than $100,000 .

They tell me $ 1.25 million. now .

Keetings friends , had thousands of houses to put on the realestate  market .  that , would have depressed said market, to give other 'battlers' a chance of a cheaper house , so those banks held onto their loot .

Then sold at inflated prices .

spacesailor