Crows attack and kill a pigeon in my garden

[Homer]

Okay, so this is a car forum, but some of you guys are clued up on the wildlife stuff so thought I'd ask here...

 

While on the phone today I hear a bit of a commotion in the garden, went to have a look and saw a couple of crows attack a Pigeon. They kept at it for a few minutes, but killed it pretty quick. Once it was dead they b*ggered off.

 

I've lived in the country for most of my life, but have never witnessed this before, is it normal for Crows to kill other birds like this? I mean a Pigeon is pretty big, but never had crows down as the type to kill other large(ish) birds.

[Pete]

Definitely crows and not Ravens? Ravens are meat eaters and not very nice. Rare though.

[Havard]

Crows are not nice animals. They are carnivorous and will eat anything!! My missus says she saw two eating "road kill" today!!

 

Yummy!!

 

H.

[Homer]

Definitely crows and not Ravens? Ravens are meat eaters and not very nice. Rare though.

 

I'm pretty sure they were Crows, there's a few of them in the area (noisy gits). They were only about 8inchs tall, the Ravens I've seen (back in Gloucester at least) were much larger.

 

Edit - just had a look on the web at some pics and now I'm not so sure. They looked just like the pics of a carrion crow

[Ian W]

Definitely crows and not Ravens? Ravens are meat eaters and not very nice. Rare though.

 

pretty much the same as a crow, just bigger.

 

carrion crows are also known to eat anything....usually roadkill.

[AlanM]

Yea, crows will kill other birds (or each other, I have seen a crow court)

[Havard]

I saw the black crows in concert about 8 years ago!!

 

I'll get my coat!!

 

H.

[Pete]

I have seen a crow court

Was one wearing a silly wig and a hammer?

[SUPRALOOPY]

What about counting crows..(gets coat to)

[AlanM]

Was one wearing a silly wig and had a hammer?

 

 

You have seen one as well?

[Ian W]

What about counting crows..(gets coat to)

 

a lot less violent i believe, although if you piss one off that has an abacus i reckon they could do a bit of damage

[Mike B]

My next door neighbour the farmer says they eat the eyes of poorly slow lambs. He shoots thier nests regularly with a bloody big shotgun.

[AlanM]

Crows always go for the eyes first

[Ian W]

My next door neighbour the farmer says they eat the eyes of poorly slow lambs. He shoots thier nests regularly with a bloody big shotgun.

 

indeed they do, prey on the weak and defenceless. my grandad has asked me to go up to his farm and get shooting with his rifle...course i don't have a licence so couldn't possibly

[edge]

Ive not eaten pidgeon yet

[Ian W]

Ive not eaten pidgeon yet

 

Funny you should mention, my dad had wood pigeon at a restaurant the other week.

 

said it was lovely apparently although a starter rather than main course because of the size.

[jakewebster]

Most likely to be hooded or "hoodie" crows. They are preaditors unlike common rooks. They have a greyish tinge on the underside and a shiney black beak unlike a rooks greyish one.

 

They are visious barstewards!

[jakewebster]

Ive not eaten pidgeon yet

 

 

I cook it quite alot, in a nice sauce it beats chicken anyday!

[edge]

Always wanted to try that sparrow thing clarkson had on his round the world series.

[garethr]

Most likely to be hooded or "hoodie" crows. They are predators unlike common rooks. They have a greyish tinge on the underside and a shiney black beak unlike a rook's greyish one.

Hoodies are the Scottish and Irish version of the carrion crow. At one time they were believed to be the same species.

 

You can tell a rook by the bare skin at the base of the beak.

[Chris Wilson]

Crows often take sick or injured small prey. To help distinguish between the Corvids have a look at:

 

http://www.earthlife.net/birds/crows.html

 

We have a pair of ravens nesting in the woods at the moment, they are truly beautiful, with a cry like a small dog, and are very impressive on the wing. Thankfully they seem to be growing in number, after a seriosu decline in the UK. They can be trained to do some quite amazing tricks, too. Like fetch the RED string, not the BLUE, or press the ROUND button, not the SQUARE button. Scientists reckon they could be one of the worlds most inteligent birds and they are proving an interesting study, after decades of persecution and disinterest.

[jakewebster]

Crows often take sick or injured small prey. To help distinguish between the Corvids have a look at:

 

http://www.earthlife.net/birds/crows.html

 

We have a pair of ravens nesting in the woods at the moment, they are truly beautiful, with a cry like a small dog, and are very impressive on the wing. Thankfully they seem to be growing in number, after a seriosu decline in the UK. They can be trained to do some quite amazing tricks, too. Like fetch the RED string, not the BLUE, or press the ROUND button, not the SQUARE button. Scientists reckon they could be one of the worlds most inteligent birds and they are proving an interesting study, after decades of persecution and disinterest.

 

 

One of my colleagues had a Raven trained to do a few tricks. Was a real friendly beast! - Well to him it was, got too protective and pecked passers by!

[Angarak]

I've heard that Pigeons arent actually as big as you think once you pluck their feathers, they quite scrawny underneath.

[Jezz]

Was she singing 'All i wanna do' as she munched the pigeon? In fact, why was she in your garden in the first place? I thought she lived in Canada?

[dangerous brain]

pidgeons are only wing borne rats anyways. crows provide an actual natural service in as such as they remove alot of nastiness from the face of our planet. you don't get crows trying to steal your ice cram down hyde park either.