Now the hawks Blanche the crows

Three juvenile hawks and the gang of crows were going at it this morning. The crows, as usual, were doing their heckling thing. And the hawks were going all Blanche on them. (See Blanche attack post.) The hawks wanted to get some baby squirrels but the crows wouldn't let them. In any event, there was a lot of cawing and chasing, including talons out front, this morning. I don't know what these crows are up to but I can't blame Blanche for opening up a can of you-know-what of them.

Two of the three in the Hawks vs Crows show down this morning.

Blanche goes postal

Now that I look back on it, it seems inevitable. But the day before yesterday, my daughter came home to find Blanche straddling an injured crow, pecking its bleeding head. My nephew and Marcy brought the crow to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It turns out the injured crow had West Nile Virus and crows are carriers of it. It ended up dying, poor thing. While the rehab center didn't draw blood to test for it, the crow exhibited all the symptoms of West Nile, so they dubbed it "a candidate." Given that its election cycle, I felt compelled to ask what that meant.

A small gang of crows has been coming by twice a day for months now. They would heckle the flock - cawing at them, tipping over water dishes and eating food outside the run.

Blanche, since she's allowed to free range, has been giving the gang what for. But I never thought she'd just go ballistic on them.

I worried that the virus would transfer to Blanche and then to the flock. But so far, so good. According to Wayne at the U of MN extension service, chickens don't really get West Nile.

So, chickens 1, crows 0.

And Blanche continues her mean streak.

The gang of crows discuss the Blanche attack.