Dennis

About 10 years ago we had a crow with one leg coming to our yard along with a family of crows. Don't know if West Nile Virus played a role in this, or not. West Nile did not have a large presence in Mid Coast Maine that I know of. We called this crow Peg. Peg survived until about Mid Winter and then disappeared. I've observed a lot of territorial defense and skirmishing among the crows in our neighborhood, but this has always resulted in successful defense of territory with intruders backing down and leaving. The most aggressive and surprising behavior I've seen is when, one spring, a crow swooped down onto a young Grey Squirrel driving its feet into the squirrel's back, then very quickly and violently driving its beak into the back of he squirrel's head and killing it. It then proceeded to eat the squirrel.

Inbreeding can have same result among crows as with humans. Recessive genes can combine to create deformity or genetic weakness among the group. Apparently, inbreeding was not uncommon among early isolated human groups and even humans today isolated by geography, social or religious structure. I don't find any of this surprising.

I have been observing a family of crows that have come to our compost for about 30 years. Most likely there have been several generations of the same family. For several years I would throw out peanuts for them every morning and before long they were arriving in our yard before I could get the peanuts out. They would perch in the trees at the edge of the yard and watch me through the windows and call until I came out with peanuts or compost. There was one particular individual that developed a very curious routine when I was out in the yard. It would fly into the trees above me and begin to arch its neck and dip its head and  beak down in front of its chest repeatedly. While dipping its head it would make clicking noises with its beak and rattle calls followed by a cooing vocalization that sounded just like a mourning dove. This ritual was clearly aimed at me since it deliberately flew to branches above me and  there were none of its companions nearby. I figured it must be sucking up to me to garner more peanuts, so I gave more peanuts. It often would see me in the house through the picture window and fly at the window only to veer off over the roof at the last moment. This crow clearly knew me and was attempting to manipulate me. And was quite succssful.

I live in Mid Coast Maine where there is a fairly large municipal dump about 4 miles from our home. In Winter, we often will see large numbers of crows headed away from the dump toward the shore. We have never found the roosting site but have seen as many as 60 crows all headed in the same direction in small groups. We also have a family that frequents our yard looking for snacks in the compost or peanuts that I have throw out for the. In spring we have large flocks of Grackles that show up. Some stay and nest in or yard while others move on to other nesting grounds.

1. I would point out that grey squirrels and chipmunks, which are quite abundant here, are by far worse predators than the crows. 2. There is a family of crows that frequents our compost pile, and has for many years. They are quite familiar with me and will often fly  from the field out beyond our yard when they see me through the window getting ready to go outside. They will also sit in the trees outside the house and call until I come out with the compost. I have also located their nest high in a pine tree about 1/4 mile away (as the crow flies). 3. There are both Ravens and Crows where e live in Maine. The Crows seem more gregarious and social, traveling in small groups; while the Ravens usual travel alone or in pairs. 4. Almost every other creature that is subject to predation by large predatory birds or mammals will benefit by the presence of crows. The crows very readily announce the presence of hawks, owls, cats, fox or coyotes in the area by mobbing and frantically "yelling".  Sometimes you can even tell by how they mob what predator is around. For instance, there was a fox that was coming to our compost one spring, not for the compost but the mice. The crows would follow the fox down through the woods hanging low in the trees and raising quite a fuss. We could almost predict when the fox would come around the shed by the movement of the rows.  By contrast, hawks will usually freeze high in the trees and crows will mob from above and dive bomb them, so there isn't a lot of lateral movement until the hawk (or owl) decides to make a run for it to escape.

Red Tailed Hawk. Nikon D500 f/16  1/1000  500mm  ISO640.

These were fun shots because I found a place to wait where I could shoot from high ledges above this Bald Eagle. Shutter speed could have been faster for better detail. The background was frozen bay and very reflective. Sunlight was coming from the left. Nikon D7100 f/8  1/1200 450mm ISO200

I enjoy trying to find birds doing unusual things, unlike the everyday. Again, I was lucky to be in the right spot at the right time, mangrove swamp in Mexico, when this heron leapt out from the tops of the trees. Nikon D7200 with 70-300 mm lens

Great Blue Heron. Nikon D500 Nikkor F5.6 200-500 mm lens. F5.6 500mm ISO280 Taken in area where birds are used to lots of human traffic