AIBU to feel guilty for not stopping a crow?

[AliceNotInChains]

Just seen a crow attacking a black bird nest down our driveway, all the black birds where dive bombing it and it didn’t care, it managed to pull a baby bird out of the nest, crow and baby fell onto driveway and crow was them divebombed by around 7 blackbirds 😱 it was throwing the baby around in the air, it was awful. I stopped watching but I’m assuming it got away with the baby. Now I feel guilty - I could have gone out and stopped it but I didn’t - it’s nature isn’t it 😞 would you have intervened?

I would have watched in horror too and knew I couldn't step in.

YABU. What should a crow do to feed its young? Go to KFC?

As you say - it's nature. It's in balance. Leave it alone.

It's nature, the crow would have fed the chicks to its own chicks. It's horrible but nothing you can do.

No because crows can remember faces and spread this info on to their flock & even descendants (apparently) so it may then have had - and passed on - a grudge towards you 😆
Imagine being divebombed by crows every time you go out to your drive.
I've never heard of similar with blackbirds either

Thanks everyone, I just feel so guilty. But I know the crow La have a nest nearby so as you say if the crow doesn’t eat - those babies die 😞 I love crows but have never seen this side to them.

Crows are highly intelligent birds but are also predators and distressing though it was for you, there would be nothing you could have done to prevent them attacking the nest

Yeah I’ve been on the receiving end of a crow grudge, the buggers went for me for a whole year after I accidentally pissed them off so this was selfishly another reason I didn’t intervene

Oh no! You’ll have that image for life now! I saw a bird get attacked by crow once and the screams have never left me, at the end of the day it’s the circle of life and if the crow hadn’t eaten the baby it would of died.

Jesus there is a crow sat on a rooftop now staring directly into my living room … it knows I know … 😂

Don't feel guilty, it's not nice to see up close but as others have said, you can't intervene in things like that.

I did once stop a cat from getting hold of a female blackbird; I noticed her mate fluttering around a bush in our garden. But that was a fat housecat who absolutely didn't need to supplement his diet with wild bird!

For some reason I thought they only ate carrion, I love crows and never seen that side to them. But nature is nature

It is sadly nature and the time of year for it, we have small birds nesting in a bush in our front gardens the seagulls have been hanging about for days luckily my dog scares them away but I am aware it probably won't end well for the nesting birds .

I would 100% have intervened with a cat. They just kill things for a laugh.

crows?
stone them!
i knew Magpies were like this but hadnt thought about crows

You did the right thing OP. Horrible to witness, but natural. The crow has to feed its young too. Hope you can put it from your mind soon.

It knows you have been posting about it on mumsnet 😄

Crows are scavengers they will try and eat anything.

If it makes you feel any better I once considered stepping in when I witnessed the ‘mating’ of two ducks. It was awful to watch. I was concerned the female duck was going to be drowned. I then came to my senses and realised I wasn’t going to wade into a river 😁.
Out of pure pettiness I now aim for female ducks when I feed them. Nature is harsh.

😂 😂 😂

😂

My dog did once accidentally kill a young magpie. It just froze when it saw her and she picked it up in her mouth experimentally, there was no blood or anything, put it down again when she found it wasn't that interesting, but I think it died of shock.

For a while there were definitely more magpies hanging around (!) and I kept feeling the need to apologise for her, but there was no mobbing or attacking. Crows are very intelligent though, I wouldn't underestimate them.

@DeftGoldHedgehog if it makes you feel any better, my dog did the same a few years go. He spotted a fledgling magpie in the garden and picked it up. He's a working line spaniel so the retrieving instinct is strong. He's a gentle soul, but the magpie was beyond saving.

We used to have a JRT and she once managed to catch a young squirrel in the park. It was very distressing to witness. Mother Nature red in tooth and claw. I find any wildlife documentaries showing predators taking down prey difficult to watch.

Thanks! Mine is a greyhound but has a low prey drive or only that of the average dog. I wouldn't let her chase birds, though she has shown no interest in them or other things really, only squirrels. And can't be bothered now as she is older. We have two cats and they are the boss of her. She is wary of cats, wisely.

I'd have had a heart to heart with the crow about the ethical benefits of veganism.