Crows scare other birds like pigeons with their sharp beaks and larger size. They love to attack their young babies to eat, which becomes a reason for their low population in the garden. They get scared by their large size wings and pointed claws that make them helpless during the attack.
Are Pigeons Afraid of Crows? Pigeons are afraid of crows because they have a poor self-defense system to protect themselves against their aggressive attack. Crows are opportunistic killers, killing small birds for food and destroying their eggs by using their extraordinary hunting skills. Pigeons try to prevent their attack by adapting the mobbing technique and prefer covered places to live.
These fighters grab the prey by inserting their beak into their bodies and do not let the pigeon escape.
Why are pigeons afraid of crows?
Pigeons do not have a powerful defensive mechanism, so they cannot fight them to save their nests, but they still try to do so to some extent.
Crows have aggressive nature
This trait becomes prominent in their breeding time because they have to put their energy into growing their babies. In addition, they put their efforts into making the nest and to make it secure.
They try to remain isolated from the environment during this time and become aggressive when someone tries to tease them. For example, if pigeons go near their nests, they attack them to defend their young ones.
Crows have extraordinary hunting skills
They eat every kind of food, whether it is herbs or meat because they are omnivores. They can eat insects, small fish, snakes, green vegetables, and nuts. They have a sharp pointed beak that helps them to attack their prey.
They use their claws as a weapon to defend themselves against their predators because they are needle-sharp. Then, they grab the prey and insert its pointed ends into the prey to kill it.
They keep holding their struggling prey with their powerful claws until they die. They have dark colors claws like dark brown, grey, or black and have keratin protein in their larger proportion.
They keep on growing throughout their life to improve their extraordinary hunting skills.
Small birds can not defend themselves much against them because they do not have sharp, strong claws. They are specially designed for perching but not for grabbing and attacking others, like in the case of crows.
Crows are opportunistic killers
Crows eat everything they find and are called omnivores birds. This is because they always search for their prey and attack the pigeons when they get a chance.
They attack the birds with poor defense systems and can not fight with them. They like smaller and weaker birds like pigeons as their prey because they are easy to catch and eat.
They do not like fighter birds because they are difficult prey for them. They do not miss any chance to attack the pigeons and attack wherever they find them.
Crows are natural predators of pigeons
You see these birds in abundance everywhere on streets and even on roads. As crows are their natural predators, they naturally kill pigeons to eat.
They are not much smaller than the crows, yet they cannot defend themselves against these bigger birds.
They do not have a sharp beak to fight against the sharp hunter beak of these predators. Therefore, they can only collect grains and small food particles with their beak and can not use them in any fight against their predator.
It makes them an easy target for fighter crows because they do not make any defensive movements. In addition, they love to eat young birds residing in their nests because they cannot fly or escape at that time.
For food
They attack the pigeons when they see them eating some food, especially nuts. They immediately attack and even injure them with their beak and powerful claws to capture and snatch the food from them.
They are social creatures and are present everywhere in your surroundings. They are attracted to humans, and humans love to feed them even when they are not their pets.
They have the inherent ability to adjust to humans in a friendly environment. They can recognize the humans who regularly feed them, so they behave to them in a jolly mood. They can eat everything, even the leftover fast food.
To destroy their eggs
Crows are scavengers and omnivores because they eat everything, whether dead or alive. Therefore, eggs present in nests or outside the nests are their favorite target.
They fight with the birds to eat their eggs because they are a good source of protein. A broken eggshell having a hole in the outward direction indicates that the baby breaks it.
If you see the hole inward, you can tell that the crow is attacking it. This is because they like to eat these eggs in the nest but often take them away to eat.
Size differences
It is a natural phenomenon that smaller birds are afraid of larger birds due to their size difference. But it is interesting to know that sometimes you see smaller birds have sharp beaks, and the larger ones do not have as much sharpness.
An average pigeon size is 30 to 36 cm in size compared to a crow, which is 35 to 55 cm in size. This is because more wingspan and claws make them larger birds than others with smaller wingspan and claws.
How do crows attack pigeons?
They attack the pigeons by using different ways according to the situation. They fly without making any sound in the air to take an overview of the problem.
They come near to them and grab them tightly so they cannot resist the attack. They also swoop on the pigeon in case of extreme hunger and instantly eat them without wastage of time.
Poor prey does not get enough time to resist or protect itself from this attack and becomes its food.
How do pigeons protect themselves from crows?
Pigeons have poor defensive power against their fierce attack, so they use another method to protect themselves.
They use this tactic in extreme danger when the expected attack is going to happen. It is a preventive behavior by these small and weaker birds to make the crows forcefully leave their territory.
A group gathers and flies circularly by making specific noises to warn the crow. Then, they harass the crow through rapid and continuous flying of their group around it.
They do this mainly in the breeding season but can also do this the whole year. This season is their favorite time to eat their young babies, especially when they are present unattended in their nests.
The group also does mobbing around their food storage place or nests to save them from any dangerous situation.
They hide under the shade or bushy area when they notice the crows approaching them. They try to live in covered places to minimize the risk of attack on them and their nests.
Which pigeons protect themselves more?
Pigeons fly as the only option to escape a dangerous situation due to lacking a defensive system. However, some of them, for example, feral pigeons, try to protect themselves by making specific sounds.
They rub their wings on one another and make a whistling sound to warn when sensing a predator in their surroundings. Others also gather near it by hearing this sound and helping it to get rid of the dangerous situation.
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