Interspecies bird battle.

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Chasing Rainbows

Tenderfoot
Oct 13, 2011
86
0
Central Scotland
In early summer of 2011 I saw something quite spectacular which I still don't fully understand. An epic mass battle taking place between magpies and jackdaws which covered an entire hillside from about 500-1500 feet.

The first hint at what was to come was two magpies chasing a jackdaw low over a gorse thicket. They were wonderfully aerobatic, making many small wing adjustments at speed to evade and persue amongst the tops of the gorse. This made me look up and there it was; More magpies than I have ever seen in one place, locked in battle with what must have been every single jackdaw from the roost about a mile away.

The scale was staggering. From the immediate foreground to the sky above the peak small groups of both species were having at each other. In some places the jackdaws were mobbing a maggie or two and in others the magpies had the upper hand. I didn't see anybody getting seriously hurt but the fighting was some very heated, beak and claw stuff. It's impossible to say how many birds were involved, but at a guess I'd say it was around the 100 mark. This gang fighting behavior struck me as being all too human.

I've never seen so many maggies together like that and I wonder how they knew it was time to band together. I reckon it was territorial but that just raises questions about the usual co-existence and why all those magpies wanted the ground which might usually hold one or two mating pairs.

Has anyone else seen a spectacle like this?
 

hermitical

Forager
Feb 28, 2010
209
0
Bristol
I saw a mini-version just a few days ago in our local park, probably no more than 20 birds total though. It must've been pretty spectacular!
 
Nov 29, 2004
7,808
22
Scotland
That sounds spectacular. No photographs?

The nearest I have seen was several hooded crows trying their best to kill a young European Jay, they drove its parents away and pursued the young one around for several hours. I have no idea how it turned out but the Jay did shelter on my terrace for about half an hour which probably gave it a well deserved breather.
 

nuggets

Native
Jan 31, 2010
1,070
0
england
must be something in the air ?? Watched a pair of magpie,s this morning harrass a mistle thrush -till its mate turned up ,then they turned there attention on a crow ,bit later i saw a magpie on the ground getting chased by a collared dove of all things ??????
 

hermitical

Forager
Feb 28, 2010
209
0
Bristol
actually, when I saw the fracas a few days ago there were two crows that were chasing off what looked like a bird of prey, it seemed smaller than the crows but was very very fast, taking steep dives
 

oldtimer

Full Member
Sep 27, 2005
3,186
1,801
82
Oxfordshire and Pyrenees-Orientales, France
I saw a bunch of jackdaws seeing off a buzzard recently. When the buzzard decided to move off, all the jackdaws but one returned to their favourite perch trees. Just one jackdaw decided to carry on the scrap and harried the buzzard for at least five minutes, following it until I could no longer see them. I was just out for a short stroll and didn't have binoculars with me. Our jackdaws tolerate woodpieions and most other birds. I guess they must have seen the buzzard as a threat, but its not nesting or chick time. In France, I have seen swallows mobbing gulls in the nesting season: this can involve quite a lot of birds and can be very spectacular.
 

Harvestman

Bushcrafter through and through
May 11, 2007
8,656
26
55
Pontypool, Wales, Uk
Years ago I saw more or less the same sort of thing between a load of rooks and some Black-headed gulls. Both sides were clearly trying to keep the other on the ground. Not much fighting, but any bird on the ground trying to take off was dive-bombed, and there were what I can only describe as aerial dogfights going on everywhere. Very even battle - the rooks had more maneuverability, but the gulls had greater speed. Watched it for ages without seeing an outcome.

Must have been 20 years ago, or more. Never seen anything like it since.
 

Chasing Rainbows

Tenderfoot
Oct 13, 2011
86
0
Central Scotland
Hehe I have seen the birds, good film that. I think Hitchcock must have once tried eating a chippy on Aberdeen beach.

Lot's of stories involving crows popping up. Those corvids are real brawlers. Most people seem to hate them but I have a great respect for the crow family, they remind me so much of people.

Birds of prey getting mobbed is something that I see alot. Prey species aren't daft, it's better to be behind a predator giving it a hard time. Wood-pigeon alarm calls or blackbirds going daft is often a signal to look up. The lone jackdaw continuing to harrass the buzzard is interesting. Once I was waiting at a roost for woodies to land up so I could shoot them and got spotted by one. The same bird kept swooping past and alarm calling me till I left. No nests around. I wonder if they somehow nominate an individual to keep an eye on a predator 'till the coast is clear.

The collared dove chasing the magpie sounds fun. And the moorhen trying to kill a gull surprised me, although moorhens do have powerful legs.

That sounds spectacular. No photographs?

I wish I did have my camera that day. Even if I had there was no way I would have been able to capture the scale of the chaos.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
I've photographed mobbing behaviour many times - never seen anything on that sacle though.

The most spectacular that I have photographed are house martins attacking a buzzard - which was perhaps topped off by crows mobbing a bald eagle to the point of making it crash land. That was one very angry eagle!
 

Rod Paradise

Full Member
Oct 16, 2008
725
1
54
Upper Nithsdale, Dumfriesshire
I saw a bunch of jackdaws seeing off a buzzard recently. When the buzzard decided to move off, all the jackdaws but one returned to their favourite perch trees. Just one jackdaw decided to carry on the scrap and harried the buzzard for at least five minutes, following it until I could no longer see them. I was just out for a short stroll and didn't have binoculars with me. Our jackdaws tolerate woodpieions and most other birds. I guess they must have seen the buzzard as a threat, but its not nesting or chick time. In France, I have seen swallows mobbing gulls in the nesting season: this can involve quite a lot of birds and can be very spectacular.


We've a quarry out the back where we see buzzards regularly (and kestels., sparrowhaws & the occaissional merlin). They usually don't get a lot of flying before the jackdaws and rooks are on them annoying them out of the air. But the best we saw was a bunch of swallows pester a young buzzard until it crashlanded in a bush & sat in the huff for ages before flying away.
 

nuggets

Native
Jan 31, 2010
1,070
0
england
Ive seen a herring gull actually kill a street pigeon and proceeded to eat it !-and a herring gull giving out loud alarm squaks after being chased by a sparrowhawk of all things !!
 

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