Elisabeth

1. No foraging flocks in the city that I’ve noticed.  Only family groups. 2. Have in the past seen large groups of waxwings fly through my end of the city, can’t recall time of year.  More recently (fall and winter) there have been small flocks of yellow finches stopping at my feeders.

I can often tell a crow by its cawing vs the ronking of ravens.   Crows can also be very melodious.

1. Yes, crows will kill and feed songbird nestlings to their young if given the opportunity, but squirrel/chipmunk and snake populations are bigger threats. 2. I live in Nova Scotia, Canada where we see crows all the time.  We are fortunate to watch nesting activities almost each spring (20 years off and on) as there is a nest in a large tree in our neighbour’s yard.  The crows are extremely quiet throughout the nesting period but that all changes when the babies fledge.  We’ve often loaned umbrellas to people walking down our street to protect them from being  “bombed” by crow parents and aunties! 3.  I live in an area where both crows and ravens live, although ravens are rare. Crows often surround and harass single ravens, cawing loudly.  Recently however, in the late fall early winter, I  saw a group of 4 or 5 ravens (unusual), take turns pulling apart the crow’s nest in our neighbour’s tree while the others excitedly ronked on encouraging the behaviour it seemed.  The crows were not impressed.  I’m waiting to see if they rebuild their nest or if the ravens will take over. 4.  Crows can provide nesting sites for large birds.  They also distribute seeds from helpful plants.