Game of Tag?

[Scott Grant]

i got this photo yesterday just down the road from my home in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada.

i watched both the crow and eagle stood up on the ice only a few feet apart for some time. the crow took to the air with the juvy eagle right on his tail feathers. one chased the other around for quite some time before they eventually landed on the ice right next to each other again.

if i were to guess i would have said that they were just having a little fun together! there didn't seem to be any real animosity between them.

is this normal behavior?

[Ilija Dukovski]

Wedge tail, large bill...
It's a Raven! I would say it is
quite usual "mobbing" behavior by the
Raven.

Cheers, Ilija

[Scott Grant]

thanks you very much for the response!

[John Chardine]

I agree but what is unusual is that the mobbed bird- in this case the eagle- does not usually go after the mobbing bird.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Good point John,

I've seen these two feeding together on carcasses
(in Massachusetts in the Quabin area) so they are not in a
typical predator vs. potential prey relationship. In fact
I have seen Crows mobbing a Raven (quite unique, at some
point I've almost lost track who's who :)) so it seems that
they are in a somewhat similar ecological position both as top
avian predators and opportunists. So it could be more of
a straight forward competition rather than typical
predator/potential prey mobbing behavior.
What do you think?

Cheers, Ilija

PS On the other hand the eagle is too young to understand what mobbing is
supposed to look like:p
Just kidding!