Crow Thuggery?

[Peano]

Hi All. Today I received an email from my brother that was quite curious, I wonder if anybody has a similar viewing or can explain what was going on. Below is the main body of the email...

There was a mad flurry of black wings and a huddle of about three crows and a magpie on the grass verge by the road. We couldn’t quite work out what it was to begin with - seemed like a piece of tarpaulin flapping about. When we realised they were crows, we wondered what an earth they could be doing. We couldn’t see at first, but then as we drew closer, we realised they were pinning another crow down on its back and spearing it with their beaks. They were all just jabbing away. Looked pretty horrific. The crow underneath managed to struggle free, but the others pounced on it and dragged it back to the same spot, turning it over, and jabbing again. We could see the head of the one on the ground trying to lift up, but the other crows clamped it down. Their wings were spread wide – like Dracula’s cape – almost as if they were trying to shield what they were doing (though it was probably to hold the unfortunate victim down).

As we drove past, the last image we saw was of the black head of the one on the ground lifting upwards, so that its neck was exposed, and one of the other crows spearing its beak into it. It was a striking and dramatic image. Utterly ruthless. The black crows were clearly silhouetted against the verge, so it was all quite clear. I don’t know what the magpie had to do with it, but it was joining in.

Any ideas?

[NickCantle]

Sounds pretty bad Don't have a clue why they'd be doing that Perhaps a ritual of some sort, for Dracula

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Probably a weak one the others have decided to kill for food.

[witham]

Yuk,sounds like something from an Alfred Hitchcock film very strange, they can be a bit volatile, perhaps there's too many males or has been said a weak or injured one and they were taking advantage of its predicament