Red-tails can and will definitely take a crow -- I recall a number of years
ago when the Laytonsville Landfill was still open (ah, the glory days...!),
three of us had permission to drive into the plant to count gulls on Gull
Day. The landfill had 1000s of gulls of course, but also attracted large
numbers of crows, vultures and a few diurnal raptors as well.

On the drive in we came across a strange, silent tableau. About 200 crows
were standing in a large circle, around a wide empty space (abut 20' radius)
in the center of which stood a Red-tail with its foot on a recently-killed
crow. The other crows seemed to be shocked silent by the scene, maybe
thinking, "Hey, I didn't know they could do THAT...!"

Gail Mackiernan
Colesville, MD


on 04/07/2010 10:15 AM, Janet Millenson at  wrote:

> <snip>
> Then I noticed the long (6"-7") black feathers strewn across the driveway --
> at least 15 of them. In the grass off to the side were large, freshly picked
> bird bones, still bloody, including a sternum and, nearby, a thigh with
> lower leg and foot still attached.
> 
> WHAT HAPPENED?! I can't imagine a Red-tail attacking an adult crow,
> particularly not in a yard so well-supplied with squirrels and other small
> mammals. Perhaps while the crows were mobbing the Red-tail, a passing
> Cooper's Hawk took advantage of the chaos to pick off a distracted bird? Any
> other theories?
> 
> 
> Janet Millenson
> Potomac, MD (Montgomery County)
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> "Look at the birds!" -- Pascal the parrot