It’s a bird-eat-bird world on Capitol Hill, a fact you can see for yourself if you keep an eye on the crows. In the past few weeks, I’ve seen crows dive-bombing an eagle and I’ve also seen swallows dive-bombing a crow. What’s going on here?
Crows, as you probably know, are the large black birds that make that harsh caw-caw outside your window at the crack of dawn. They get involved in those midair interspecies brawls when they feel threatened, or when other birds feel threatened by them.
Songbirds birds mob crows because crows are opportunistic feeders. That means they eat pretty much anything: an unattended warbler egg, a baby owl, an unwary an unwary chickadee—or, yes, your garbage.
Crows, meanwhile, mob larger birds and anything else they feel is a threat to them, their eggs, or their young. If they dive-bomb you, there’s probably an active nest or vulnerable bird nearby. It can be an unsettling experience, so if possible, give crow nests a wide berth. If you must enter a nest area, your best bet is to wave your arms slowly overhead. This should make the crows wary enough to maintain a slight distance.
Many people don’t like crows, but they’re among the most adaptable and intelligent birds on earth. They can recognize individual people and remember faces for years. They’re tool-using animals, known for behaviors like dropping nuts into the street to be cracked by the tires of passing cars. They pass information on between groups and to offspring. In short, they’re pretty cool — even if they do wake you up in the mornings.
Interested in learning more?
- For information and fun facts, check out the American crow at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. You may also want to look up recordings of both crow species at the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds.
- Here’s a great TED talk about crow intelligence, including a description of how the speaker, Joshua Klein, trained crows to use a vending machine.
- This PBS documentary, A Murder of Crows, features University of Washington research on crows’ ability to recognize human faces and pass information among groups.
- For serious bird nerds, here’s a detailed discussion of the most current research on species classification of crows from our region.
Previous Aviary Posts
- Swallows pursue unlicensed construction project beneath 520 bridge
- Hill welcomes avian arrivals from the tropics
- An update on the owls of Interlaken
- More…
Melissa Koosmann is a freelance writer and resident of Capitol Hill. She writes about education, culture, gardening and nature — and, sometimes, birds for CHS.
Les Corbeaux
Lord, when a chill is in the meadows,
When in exhausted hamlets
Perpetual prayer-times are silent…
Down on defoliated tracks of wildness
Let them fall from vast fuming skies—
The beloved, delicious crows.
Bizarre shock-troops that rasp and shriek,
Biting winds attack your rookeries!
Along jaundiced rivers,
Over roads of decrepit calvaries,
Over ditches and pits—
Scatter and surge for victory!
In your thousands, swallow the fields of France
Where the past days’ dead lie sleeping.
Twist in your sharp winter throng,
Just so—no wanderer will fail to notice,
None will forget; call us to pay our respects,
O funereal black bird of the elect.
Yet, saints of the firmament,
Haunt the heights of the oak tree,
Lost mast absorbed by twilight’s mystery,
Abandon the warblers of May to those who inhabit
Imprisoning grass in dark forest greenery,
Those chained by defeat without destiny.
—Arthur Rimbaud
They give people gifts! We were feeding a couple of crows at Greenlake and they flew up into a tree and the male crow snapped a flowering twig off the tree and tossed it at us. Other people have told us that’s a standard crow behavior — if you feed them, sometimes they find a little thing to give you.
…but they’re far less offensive to me than pigeons. I loathe pigeons. if I could figure out how to feed crows and robins and others without feeding pigeons, I might do it.
I did NOT know about the little gift thing mentioned by MC. I might have to try that.
That is adorable! I love crows and ravens, even when they’re vocal at 4am. ;)
“Crows…make that harsh caw-caw outside your window at the crack of dawn.”
-Those aren’t crows. Then again, I live across the street from the mothodone clinic.
“Many people don’t like crows, but they’re among the most adaptable and intelligent birds on earth.”
-I dated a guy once, who was regularly dive-bombed by crows. I should have paid them more heed.
*methadone/methodone. Me type pretty one day.
After a less-than-fabulous Friday the 13th, your posts cracked me up this morning. Thanks. :-)
Their intelligence is fascinating, and I have also been gifted sticks and pine cones from these generous creatures. I admit they can be quite annoying when their nests are just outside the bedroom window, especially during mating season. A crow getting laid can put out one hell of a scream…at 5:30am!!!
Its fun to watch them race with gulls around skyscrapers downtown…clockwise gulls chasing crows, then counterclockwise crows chasing gulls. The eagles of Pioneer Square know to avoid those games.
Thanks for the nice article on my favorite member of the Capitol Hill aviary.
Seattle is lucky to have prominent corvid researcher Dr. John Marzluff nearby at UW. His books (with illustrator Tony Angell) “In the Company of Crows and Ravens” (2005) and “Gifts of the Crow” (2012) are essential reading for crow lovers.
All I know is these damn garbage birds have been tearing apart our trash forever. These smart bastards found a way to unhook a bungee cord at one time. Watch out at 12th and Madison, these guys are watching and waiting……..
Sorry that birds have outsmarted you…
…. scores of people walking around “slowly waving their arms above their head.” Who would actually do that? hahahahaha
I have been dive bombed twice in the past four days by a crow in front of my apartment. I don’t blame the bird – crows may be smart but it is hard to explain the concept of live and let live in crow language.
On Belmont Ave a few weeks back, I had a crow dive bomb at me and for days… if I walked out there, it would do the same thing. Crazy – and a bit unsettling. Then it disappeared.
A few weeks later I’m walking towards 15th and the same thing happened. Scared the shit out of me and thought, “Are you kidding me? Is this the same bird that was dive bombing me on Belmont Ave?”
A bit creepy if it was, and had no clue they remember faces for years. Insane!
There is a crow that has been dive bombing for a week on the corner of Malden and Harrison because a little one was stuck in the bushes in front of one of the apartments. The little one has been rescued. I am not sure the crow has figured out the little one is gone.
The crow at Malden and Harrison is still there, doing his thing, as of 5:30 this evening. (He’s dive-bombed me three times this week.)
As much as I hate that, I do have a grudging respect for their intelligence and tenacity.
That is my building and he was at it Friday and Saturday.
I love the Crows! They chase away all the pigeons that poop on my deck. Plus, the pigeons are louder in the morning…
Heed the sound of a group of crows all sounding at once! They always point out something worth seeing; raptors, raccoons, possums, you name it. As for being the object of Crow Disapproval, waving of the arms will work, but so will walking slowly and ignoring the fuss. I love crows and don’t mind the dance of wing above my head when I pass by; my neighborhood crows know me so they don’t hassle me. Big plus; they pick out the moss from the rain gutters.
Really? That is cool. I’m going to try it.
Our Minnesota crows definitely have language skills. I wonder whether they could communicate in “crow” to your Seattle crows.
No idea. They have culture, though, so there’d probably be some culture shock. :)