I once watched a crow sitting just at the edge on a very busy highway 100 in Edina attacking an adult squirrel, and attempting to chase it back into the heavy traffic. I could only conclude that the crow was attempting to use the cars as a "tool" to kill the squirrel.
Bill Stauffer Edina, MN -----Original Message----- From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:mou-...@lists.umn.edu] On Behalf Of linda whyte Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 2:42 PM To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: Re: [mou-net] [mnbird] Birding about the Metro I have seen crows carry off a very alive baby squirrel, and attempt to snatch a baby rabbit, in the alley and street by my house. I have also seen one pursue and grab a running mouse right off the sidewalk in my backyard. Though I can't guarantee the mouse was in good health, we have never used a poison aimed at killing rodents. Given their affinity for capitalizing on roadkill and their capacity for learning, crows seem perfectly likely to hunt for live sources of protein, especially during breeding season (which is when I witnessed all 3 incidents). Linda Whyte On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 2:32 PM, <blueb...@surfbest.net> wrote: >>How do you know the crow hunted and killed the mouse? > Perhaps it found it dead, on the snow, killed by D-con or something > similar.. However, I have seen in my yard crows attack a summer > (leaf and branches) squirrel nest and fly away with a baby squirrel. > So, even though it was an infant, it was hunted and killed. As an > aside,one of the other infant squirrels fell to the ground. I > brought it to a friend of mine whose Springer Spaniel had just lost a > litter of new born puppies. The spaniel adopted the squirrel, nursed > it to a very plump adulthood, and it was later released. > > Don Grussing > Minnetonka, MN >> >> >>---- Original Message ---- >>From: swest...@comcast.net >>To: mnb...@lists.mnbird.net, mou-net@lists.umn.edu >>Subject: RE: [mnbird] Birding about the Metro >>Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:57:00 -0600 >> >>>Yesterday I spotted a Crow carrying a recently killed Deer or >>White-footed Mouse. This is the first time I have every seen >>evidence of Crows hunting mammals. >>> >>>Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN >>>swest...@comcast.net > > > _______________________________________________ > mnbird mailing list > mnb...@lists.mnbird.net > http://lists.mnbird.net/mailman/listinfo/mnbird > Unsubscribe: %(user_optionsurl)s > ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
