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The crow/osprey relationship is an interesting one because unlike most raptors, crows have little reason to fear osprey as they are nearly exclusively fish eating. So it stands to reason that crows should learn not to spend time mobbing osprey since they pose no mortal threat. 1/
A 2015 paper suggests that crows do in fact learn this and are less likely to mob osprey relative to red-tails and bald eagles. 2/ wjoonline.org/doi/abs/10.167…
The main exception is in areas where ospreys occur only rarely. Crows in these areas may not have enough opportunity to learn that they are benign. 3/
Still just because they do it less, doesn’t mean you can’t catch Seattle crows making an errant attack on osprey. But hey, with photos like this as a result I’m not complaining. Nice work @kris0723!
