Mexican Standoff - sort of

[74-911]

Loud, raucous squawking from the front yard yesterday afternoon. A hawk and crow were going at it in the corner of the front yard. By the time I grabbed the camera they had retreated to their respective corners and into a stare-off. Hoped they would take up the battle again while I had the camera at the ready but shortly after this pic the crow just turned and flew off...

It is a fairly common sight to see mockingbirds and scissor tails attack hawks but this is the first time I've seen a crow on the attack:

[red-beard]

Neither looks Mexican to me....

[74-911]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Neither looks Mexican to me....

Would you believe avian stand - off ??

[Evans, Marv]

I call the ravens that live around here thugs. The will harass coyotes, bob cats, dogs, and hawks of course along with anything else they don't approve of. Mostly the hawks ignore them except when dive bombed too close. I always know when there is something like a coyote around because of the half dozen ravens swooping and squawking. I put table scraps out for them almost on a daily basis. Lately one of the hawks has learned it can score something. This morning it scored a piece of rib with some meat on it. The ravens weren't happy about that.

[quicksix]

That is a Red shoulder,and a healthy one at that.
A couple of crows together have been known to kill an adult red tail by driving them to the ground,and attacking them. Ravens are smart birds and work together well.