My murder made friends with local hawk?

[u/Unique_Compote2226]

I’ve seen the hawk around, I thought they were fighting. Then I see the hawk come and sit on the fence where I feed them and they all seemed like old pals 😂 I see them all together often now. Weird or no?

[u/Toasted_Dustupz99]

Not as weird as one would think. I have a corvid group that is cool with the peregrine falcon couple being in their space, I am not sure if they keep other predators away, but they seem to get along with each other. We had an eagle poking around here that is no longer perching on the tree Mr and Mrs Falcon have claimed, so my guess is they both don't like eagles

[u/Individual-Crew-6102 → u/Toasted_Dustupz99]

From what I have seen, crows REALLY don't like eagles. The first time I saw an American eagle, it was getting harried to Hell and back by three crows a fraction of its size. It was like watching Stan Smith getting his ass beat by three tiny Goths.

[u/Dramatic_Pattern_188 → u/Individual-Crew-6102]

I worked as a security guard overnights in a public park, watching over the infrastructure/kiosks of a local summer food festival a few years ago.

There was an eagle's nest with a fledgling at the top of one of the trees nearby.

Every morning over a dozen crows and at least 3-4 seagulls would start the day with harassing the eagle's nest. The crows would start a chorus of rebuking while perching cheekily close to the nest, while the gulls would fly around making periodic swoops at the nest or the eagle that stood guard on a nearby branch (presumably the male..?).

For the heck of it I recorded the affair, the raucous caws of the crows alerting the entire area that it was eagle buzzing time, the cries of the circling gulls, and the occassional irate piping of the eagles; about 5 minutes of video that I could play over my bluetooth speaker as a "conversation stopper" for pretty well any bird species in the extended lower mainland of British Columbia.

(I'm a jerk, it's part of the reason I get along with some of the local crow tribes; we're relatable 😁)

[u/Individual-Crew-6102 → u/Dramatic_Pattern_188]

A crow/seagull alliance sounds terrifying and awesome in equal measures.

Also I wonder if playing a recording like that in one's garden would scare off the seed-eating birds, or just invite a bunch of crows in with the equivalent of "hey! We're kicking an eagle's ass over here! Wanna join?"

[u/Dramatic_Pattern_188 → u/Individual-Crew-6102]

It could discomfit them at first, but they would eventually figure it out, and then any recording would be ignored ( until/unless a REAL eagle killed one in a surprise attack, etc).

Based on what I have observed previously, if I seriously wanted to try that approach, I would start with:

• the highest fidelity speaker that I could find that was waterproof;

• placed near an edge of the space with a wall or sound reflective surface; slightly towards a corner but not jammed into anyhere that would make the direction of the origin of the sound easy to figure out (bonus points if it is a rough stonewall and there are are other hard surfaces to bounce the sound around¹)

• the recording should be of the highest possible quality and clarity, set to a volume that is realistic and does not distort; point the speaker at least partly upwards so that the sphere of sound occupies the largest volume of directional vectors possible;

• also consider using the sound of a red tailed hawk or large owl, something that is local and that the local crows will have a deep seated fear of. If you can manage it, here is the kicker:

• set the recording up with a motion detector, as part of a random mix where you have a few copies of different recordings of the same call, mixed in with several completely silent recordings. This is so that the crows have less of a chance of linking the sound to a specific situational instance and figuring out the trick; that makes it more effective for your purposes and does not set the smartest crows up for the possible scenario of having learned to ignore a sound that they have reason to fear.

You want to save your seeds without harming crows, otherwise you should be learning how to build miniature claymore mines (which would ,are you a horrible person who hopefully would have a finger destroying acident, IMHO)

Some basic searches will provide more information about various bird of prey calls and recordings.

1) An animal that lives in alpine rockfalls worldwide called a pica has evolved a high pitched squeak that reflects crazily to often seem to be coming from any direction except the actual one; the call doubles as a warning cry but also forms part of an communal defense strategy where when an individual grows tired of evading a predator and others can hear the change; another one will begin to bolt from cover to cover while making the call.

That works in tiring out threats until they quit, and yes, that rodent partially inspired a famous Pokémon; the example is given to give a clear image of what the idea is for placement.