I know that crows mob owls - it’s how I’ve found the few owls I have seen. Does anyone know why they do not mob raptors? I have seen Cooper’s Hawks sit prominently atop a tree or pole with crows in abundance. Yet the hawks are left alone. This puzzles me!!
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I see crows mob raptors all the time.
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I’ve watched the local crows gang up on red tailed hawks here in Kamloops several times. Perhaps the ones in your neighbourhood have struck a truce?
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I’ve seen them mob red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, and even vultures before. What’s going on with your crows must be an exception, not the norm.
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Probably the corvids didn’t notice the hawk or didn’t consider it a threat. Birds will mob almost any raptor or nest-threatening bird.
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We came across a dramatic mobbing of a Red Tail last year. It was so, so, so noisy!
This hawk had what looked like a squirrel in its talons.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/34994694
The 3rd and 5th Pictures show the crows better.
I’ve seen hawks being mobbed by crows several times in this area. There seemed to be sort of a “war” a few years ago where we would find crow parts in an area where a hawk was mobbed several times over a couple of months.
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We notice at our hawkwatch that the Blue Jays and Crows don’t seem to hassle the birds that have been around all summer, but migrants that stop for a while often find themselves the targets of mobbing.
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Welcome to the forum!
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Thank you all for the information. It’s something that has puzzled me, and this is the place where experience folk gather! @psweet - that might be what’s happening here. There are a couple of raptors that have been present all summer, and neither crows or jays bother them.
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Apart from red tailed hawks, I’ve also seen crows mobbing bald eagles, especially the younger ones. The crows definitely get more defensive during breeding when they have nests and young crows to protect. Apart from crows mobbing, I also have seen blackbirds (mainly red winged) and purple martins mob if a raptor encroaches on their breeding grounds and nest boxes. Just last week I saw the adult purple martins gang up on a turkey vulture soaring too close to their nest boxes.
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I see crows mobbing hawks and eagles.
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Great photo! Welcome to the forum 
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Yes! I second that – great image of crows mobbing. :)
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I’m not sure this helps, but I saw what I’m pretty sure was a cooper’s hawk being mobbed by some monk hood parrots. Not crows, but cooper hawks defiantly aren’t somehow the one raptor immune to being mobbed.
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Mostly crows just go after raptors they believe are a threat to their eggs or young. Owls are their main predator, but daytime raptors only raid crow nests every once in a while. Maybe the hawks in your area just don’t like crow egg omelets so the crows don’t bother them?
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