Jackdaw killing House Martin (1 Viewer)

[Dave Coker]

Hi All

I have lived in a small village east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire UK for the past 14 years and the majority of the houses which haven't had a chimney pot guard fitted have nesting Jackdaws . The small estate also has at least a dozen House Martin nests each year. As a keen birder I will often sit in my garden and watch these birds . Last night 18/07/16 for the first time ever I watched a Jackdaw fly from the roof of the house where it nests and land on the roof of the nearest house to me where it proceeded to attack and kill a House Martin which had been resting on the roof. The jackdaw then flew back with the now dead House Martin onto the roof of the house where it nests and proceeded to pluck and then eat its catch. I have been birding for over 40 years and this is the first time I have ever see a Jackdaw kill another bird. I know Jackdaws are omnivorous but has anybody else on Birdforum witnessed this sort of behaviour.

Thanks

Dave Coker

 

[ApusApus]

Hi All

I have lived in a small village east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire UK for the past 14 years and the majority of the houses which haven't had a chimney pot guard fitted have nesting Jackdaws . The small estate also has at least a dozen House Martin nests each year. As a keen birder I will often sit in my garden and watch these birds . Last night 18/07/16 for the first time ever I watched a Jackdaw fly from the roof of the house where it nests and land on the roof of the nearest house to me where it proceeded to attack and kill a House Martin which had been resting on the roof. The jackdaw then flew back with the now dead House Martin onto the roof of the house where it nests and proceeded to pluck and then eat its catch. I have been birding for over 40 years and this is the first time I have ever see a Jackdaw kill another bird. I know Jackdaws are omnivorous but has anybody else on Birdforum witnessed this sort of behaviour.

Thanks

Dave Coker

Jackdaws are opportunists and will take a meal wherever they can find it!


Shane

 

[Dave Coker]

Hi Shane

Thanks for your reply. I know Jackdaws are opportunist but having watched them alongside the House Martins for the past 14 summers I was shocked to witness this behaviour for the first time. Both the jackdaws and House Martins will sit on the same roof without any antagonistic behaviour but it maybe this behaviour has happened before I just haven't been there to witness it.

Regards
Dave

 

[Nutcracker]

What's really odd here is that the House Martin didn't attempt to escape - it could very easily avoid the Jackdaw if it wanted to. Perhaps a naive newly-fledged youngster?

 

[Dave Coker]

The House Martin was flying around then landed on the lower slope of the roof facing down the slope, the Jackdaw then flew over and looked as though it was going to land slightly higher up the roof and then suddenly turned and dropped onto the House Martin grabbing it with both feet. the House Martin struggled to break free but the Jackdaw hit the House Martin several times with its bill and the struggle ended. Perhaps the Jackdaw had spotted a weakness in the House Martin as it was flying around or perhaps familiarity / naivety was the House Martins downfall. I read in BWP that Jackdaws will take adult birds up to Starling size so this is noted behaviour but nevertheless it was still interesting to see this for the first time after more than 40 years birding.

Regards
Dave
Dave

 

[Crumblyflake]

Hi All

I have lived in a small village east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire UK for the past 14 years and the majority of the houses which haven't had a chimney pot guard fitted have nesting Jackdaws . The small estate also has at least a dozen House Martin nests each year. As a keen birder I will often sit in my garden and watch these birds . Last night 18/07/16 for the first time ever I watched a Jackdaw fly from the roof of the house where it nests and land on the roof of the nearest house to me where it proceeded to attack and kill a House Martin which had been resting on the roof. The jackdaw then flew back with the now dead House Martin onto the roof of the house where it nests and proceeded to pluck and then eat its catch. I have been birding for over 40 years and this is the first time I have ever see a Jackdaw kill another bird. I know Jackdaws are omnivorous but has anybody else on Birdforum witnessed this sort of behaviour.

Thanks

Dave Coker

Hello Dave - well, it’s been a few years since your post but today I witnessed a similar thing although didn’t actually see it doing the evil deed. In the eaves of our house we always used to have house marten nests but don’t now. We do have, annoyingly, 2 very persistent jackdaws who insist on building what must be a useless nest in a very precarious corner under the same eaves. Today I heard them creating such a noise when I was outside so I went round the corner to see what was going on. I could see the two jackdaws, one at the very bottom of the tiles and the other crouched in the gutter itself. The next thing I see, it hops out of the gutter and it has a house marten in its beak. They both then flew away presumably to eat the house marten - I was totally shocked. I hate jackdaws and we’ve got thousands of them in our village!😡