This morning I was out back in grackle-land (am inundated with grackles and their demanding semi fledged progeny for some reason) and I heard a loud chittering of swallows; I don't usually don't hear them till evening when they start swooping around and usually not so many nor so loud,  so I looked up to see what was what and I saw a crow (fish crow I'm pretty sure), with something that looked suspiciously like a small bird in his beak, winging away towards the marsh surrounded by a cloud of swallows that were diving and bombing the crow and chittering away very loudly (and angrily). I've also recently seen a crow being mobbed/chased several times lately - yesterday a mocking bird was pitching a hissy fit you wouldn't have believed at a crow  - last week or so it was a ball of somethings that peeped chasing a crow... so it seems I have a crow with a taste for nestlings/little birds?  Is that normal? I know they will take one if the opportunity arises - does that happen this
 often?
   
  I also saw a big mob of crows, black birds, mockies, jays, a lots of little birds cheering them on (every bird in southern AA county it seemed actually)  mobbing a very large (as big or bigger than an osprey) golden coloured hawk-like bird with big eyes and fluffy pantaloons in a small decorative conifer 2 weekends ago - when the mob-ee was finally able to take off (it was barely able to get wings stretched so he kind of fluttered) he had a limp black bird in one talon. 
  Cat Reid
  Rose Haven - So AA Co  
   

       
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