For the Birds: Birds attacking innocent humans

American Crow dive-bombing Bald Eagle
Photo by Bill Anderson

By Christine Southwick

Now is a time that people find themselves under attack from crows and other local birds, seemingly for no reason at all.

Birds don’t go around attacking larger-than-life entities for fun. Life is hard enough for birds, without expending energy trying to drive away something that can possibly end their lives. So why would neighborhood birds, especially crows, owls, and even smaller birds, suddenly rise up and start warring with their neighbors, which they mostly ignored, or hid from before?

American Crow chasing Red-tailed Hawk
Photo by Craig Kerns

It is breeding time, and the parents are protecting their territories where the nests and nestlings are being fed and raised. Some species start protecting and driving off interlopers in their territories as soon as the eggs are laid, but most become vociferous when nestlings emerge from the eggs, and start making noises that predators recognize. Nests can be dangerous for survival, so many birds, especially crows and owls, have evolved to nestlings climbing out onto limbs or onto the ground, and finding a variety of hiding places. Crows often leave the nest before they can fly, so the parents scare away anything that might think a baby crow is fair game.

American Crow strafing Raccoon
Photo by Dasha Gudalewicz

The parents’ main job then is to feed them, and keep them safe. Anything that potentially will eat their babies must be driven off before the babies are harmed. Humans have historically hunted and eaten birds (I don’t know exactly which birds are in a “five and twenty blackbird pie”, but crows are quick learners).

Crows and owls are large enough and strong enough to hurt any one walking or running in that bird’s family territory, so we pay attention to these “random acts of aggression”. No one likes to have scrapes on their heads from an avian attacker.

Red-winged Blackbird chasing American Crow
Photo by Dasha Gudalewicz

So what is the answer? People need to stay out of the territory of the attacking bird, until the babies have flown away. That can be 10 to 28 days, depending upon the species. Crows often build nests high in street trees or yards, and this may mean detouring, for a period of time. As inconvenient as that may seem, being willing to regard this behavior as a sign of good parenting by detouring, acknowledges that birds have a right to live in our city too.

To avoid being “dive-bombed” by protective crow parents, here is a link where you can report “Crow Attacks”, and thus know where to avoid walking or running for the next couple of weeks.

For previous For the Birds columns, see Features on the main webpage.