The Attacking Crow

Despite reading the story about the kayak rescue on Monday’s paper(see Tuesday's post), we did go kayaking after work that day. Three of us left at 7 PM, returned at 10 PM. We depared from the beach of the near catastrophy, went through the marina, and circled the islands just outside of town. No problems, no flipping over. Calm seas. High 40’s. What a great, leisurely kayaking day.

The most interesting thing was the interaction between a crow and an eagle. We have some big crows here, but this was about ½ the usual size (similar size to the crows in the lower 48). She made repeated diving attacks towards the eagle who just sat on a lamp post on a pier at the marina. Within inches of hitting the eagle, the crow would suddenly pull up and fly away. Despite the “attacks”, the eagle didn’t bat an eye.

Turns out eagles like to eat the eggs of crows. This crow must have been the mom of the eagle’s meal that day. And that mama crow was mad. But that eagle was not going to let that mama crow’s “attack” upset her digestion. Calm and collected she just sat on that pole, knowing the crow's beak would come close, but dared not touch the eagle. Finally after 6 attack dives, the crow flew off. Hopefully satisfied that she got some revenge.


We saw other birds this Monday: orange footed oystercatchers, horned and tufted puffins, orange footed glaucous gulls, black footed small kittywakes, cormorants, and another eagle eating his catch on a rock just above water level. But none as exciting at the attacking crow.

I was so enternatined that I didn't film the crow. But, here are pics of our departure. Summer "nights" are the best!