A Fishing Crow.......

upyonder · #1 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 09:57 AM

A colleague has just told me he observed at New Miller Dam (Wakefield) a crow dive into the water and bring out a fish....is this something crows will normally do ?

bigdave60dog · #2 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 10:12 AM

Wouldn`t think so but never underestimate Crows.
Too many years ago I was farmer. In those days we did a lot of winter ploughing.
It was usual to plough up groups of Woodmice that were hibernating -probably as families- There would be up to 8 mice in each nest which were all deposited on Top of the ploughed soil mostly unharmed to run away to any shelter that they could find.
A Kestrel would accompany me in my work often sitting on a post or tree stump to watch. He/she would swoop to pick up a mouse from the recently evicted family to fly off to eat it on his post.
A Carrion Crow also watched from the top of an Oak in hedge. The crow would also swoop after the mice. He would just peck each mouse hard enough to kill or disable it. he would then collect ALL of the bodies in one beakfull to fly off and enjoy them a his leasure.
Proof that Carrion crows are brighter than Kestrels I think.

Pipa · #3 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upyonder

A colleague has just told me he observed at New Miller Dam (Wakefield) a crow dive into the water and bring out a fish....is this something crows will normally do ?

dont know, but i have never ever saw a crow/rook/jackdaw any of the crow species even take a bath in our bird baths, they come for a drink but they never go in.. they seem to be water shy the ones where i live hehe

Ukwildlifeo · #4 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 10:43 AM

Ive seen magpies take newts but not by diving in.

How good is your colleague with birds - could it have been a cormorant?

upyonder · #5 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 10:50 AM

I will test him shortly about the cormorant, he is not really a birdwathcher.........I think unless anyone can say crows can fish we must assume he was wrong !

solus · #6 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 11:41 AM

I don't know about Crows diving in to water but they do fish, given the opportunity. Some years ago our former neighbours dug a pond near the back of their garden and stocked it with goldfish of some sort. The Carrion Crow that was nesting in the trees further down the road exploited this source of food (presumably to feed its young) by standing quietly on the edge of the pond and watching... then it would suddenly dart its head down and grab a fish from the shaded area under the pond edge and fly off with it. We watched this happen with some delight on a number of occasions, and when I saw it, the Crow was nearly always successful. The neighbour even bought more fish when the first lot had disappeared! Unfortunately another neighbour must have told him what was happening (we didn't!) and he covered the pond with a net, thus removing a source of entertainment for us and a source of food for the Crow. Fun while it lasted though!

Harold Smith · #7 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 04:18 PM

Never seen a Crow dive into water. I do have a crow that is a regular visitor to the garden and it is very adept at taking newts and frogs from the pond. One day it was trying so hard to get at something it lost its footing and fell head first into the pond. It got absolutely soaked and covered in weed. It expressed its indignation and annoyance very audibly. I howled with laughter! However, it must have recovered its dignity, as a few days later it was trying to fish the pond again.

Harold.

bigdave60dog · #8 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 04:36 PM

That`s a thought, If a crow "dived into water" as a pose to a plunge bathing type of dive -which Jackdaws do do- It would not be able to fly off.
Dave

valleyforge · #9 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upyonder

A colleague has just told me he observed at New Miller Dam (Wakefield) a crow dive into the water and bring out a fish....is this something crows will normally do ?

Hi upyonder and welcome to the WAB forum,

I suspect that what your colleague is much more likely to have observed was a cormorant, not a corvid ... they quite commonly fish inland waters and from a distance appear all black too.

Crows are quite adept at fishing out invertibrates from the edges of shallow rivers, ditches or ponds, but they won't dive in after a fish.

nightshade · #10 (**permalink**) 18-05-2011, 05:15 PM

Jackdaws, Crows and Magpies all bathe here, they also take tadpoles and
fish fry. I have watched a Crow wading around stones catching small fish and I agree about the beak loading, what they cannot eat or carry they cache. Very clever birds, they also watch other birds and animals (discreetly) and raid any unattended stores