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AT first sight this crow appears to be having a ride on the back of a passing eagle.
By John Ingham
PUBLISHED: 18:38, Tue, Jun 30, 2015 | UPDATED: 18:53, Tue, Jun 30, 2015
But this is no joyride.
It is a David and Goliath battle which pitted America’s national bird against one of the world’s cleverest.
MEDIA DRUM WORLDCrows are highly territorial and see eagles as a threat
The crow was on a mission to protect its chicks by trying to drive the bald eagle away.
And for a fleeting second it landed on the eagle’s back before the birds went their separate ways, said photographer Phoo Chan, 50.
He caught the moment in in Washington state.
Paul Stancliffe of the British Trust for Ornithology said the crow was “mobbing” the eagle.
He said: “Crows are highly territorial and see eagles as a threat. This bird is trying to defend its young by forcing it to leave the area.”
The odds of success were on the crow’s side despite the eagle’s sharp talons.
Eagles are powerful hunters but they not manoeuvrable enough to catch a crow in mid-air - so it was free to buzz its enemy at will and even have a piggyback.
Source: http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/587892/Crows-bird-hitches-ride-eagle
Comments
Thanks for sharing this very interesting nature post!
My pleasure! It had to be shared :)
Crows also mob ravens, but ravens can fly upside down, so dive-bombing them from above is a bad idea; they just flip over and present talons: "Oh, ya want some of this?" The day the two bald eagles landed in my backyard (going after the stinky chicken carcass,) the crows were going utterly crazy, but they were definitely keeping their distance from those fearsome beaks and claws.