Divebomb

My workplace is on the outskirts of town. It's near a major highway but surrounded by trees, and the compound (yes, it's in a fenced compound; government lab) is filled with prairie grasses, so we get a lot of birds. I saw two crows harrying a hawk the other day, and again today. They would circle above it and then take it in turns to swoop down. The hawk would dodge sideways with a swinging motion like a motorcyclist rounding a sharp curve. After a while one of the crows dropped off and the other continued chasing it higher up and away to the north. The structure is a gigantic TV tower that looks like it's at least a couple hundred meters tall.

Crows are pretty awesome. I like them. They don't get enough credit for being fascinating creatures since they're not all mythological like ravens. One of the most entertaining moments on my morning commutes recently was watching a young crow try to land on a spruce tree. The branch would keep going BOING and he would flap to keep his balance, take off a bit, land again, and...BOING.

And, I mean, attacking a hawk...would you dare to chase away a 300-pound gorilla barehanded if it came near your house?