![]() Flapping wildly, the magpie pulled away, taking flight as the feather ripped out of its rump. As their dishevelled victim scrabbled free, its partner lunged forward, bit down on a frayed tail feather, and dragged the screeching escapee backwards across the lawn. Momentarily distracted by a slamming gate, the first aggressor relaxed its grip. The most plausible explanation for this attack was resource competition, the crows asserting their dominance to ensure priority access to this prime feeding site during the lean winter months. This pair are intensely territorial, but more commonly display interspecific aggression during the breeding season, usually in response to a perceived threat of nest predation. Its parents alarm-called frenziedly from their perches in the overhanging boughs of the silver birch, but made no attempt to come to their offspring’s aid.Īs it wrestled to subdue the magpie’s thrashing, white-edged wings, the crow gave a rattling caw, summoning its mate to join the fray. ![]() The magpie lay pinned on its back at the foot of the bird table, its body bucking in time with the sharp-beaked blows hammering down on its exposed breast. Classified in the UK as Green under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the. Crows and shrikes Statistics Length: 47cm Wingspan: 98cm Weight: 510g Average Lifespan: 4 years. I wasn’t expecting to see an adult carrion crow grappling with a juvenile magpie – its youth discernible by its short tail and duller plumage. The all-black carrion crow does not nest in colonies like the similar rook. I flung back my curtains, expecting to see the aftermath of a sparrowhawk strike. One morning, just after sunrise, the robin’s muted winter subsong was silenced by a piercing shriek. As well as having a heavier black bill, the Carrion Crow lacks the shaggy thighs of the Rook and has a different head shape.
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