crows vs eagle @ SBWR - Feb 2017

This clip shows the ubiquitous house crows harassing a juvenile white-bellied sea eagle. The crows are certainly persistent and each brave enough to mess with the much larger eagle.

The eagle tried its best to maintain its balance but lost it and had to take to the air although it was clearly unprepared to do so and seemingly forgot to tell its legs that it was no longer on the tree.

crows vs eagle @ SBWR - Feb 2017 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

mass murder @ SBWR 12Jan2014

About a year ago, I had noticed  a small group of crows had taken up residence at Pulau Buloh. At that time, there were only about 5 crows seen in the group.

On 12 Jan 2014, I was surprised to see a large flock of crows numbering between 40 to 50 congregating in the late morning at the same corner of Pulau Buloh. 

This was a mass murder in the reserve!

Looks like the conditions for the crows must be overly suitable. It's not surprising since the nearby offshore fishfarms tend to discard on a regular basis, without fear of sanction, dead or dying fish into the surrounding waters. Food is therefore plentiful. These crows have been seen to scavenge dead fish along the shore as well as picking up scraps from the water surface.

These crows have been observed to harass and chase away much bigger birds of prey like migratory ospreys, resident raptors like the brahminy kite and white-bellied sea eagle from the area. The crows have the ability and intelligence to totally dominate the skies. 

mass murder @ SBWR 12Jan2014 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.
[no audio, captured at 120fps, played in slowmo]

Read more about this fascinating (and most intelligent) bird :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crow

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/a-murder-of-crows/crow-facts/5965/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131128103835.htm

http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.html

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/crow-brains-reveal-secrets-their-intelligence

http://www.cracked.com/article_19042_6-terrifying-ways-crows-are-way-smarter-than-you-think.html

http://io9.com/crows-could-be-the-key-to-understanding-alien-intellige-1480720559

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/5141/20131130/researchers-find-neurons-behind-crows-intelligence.htm

http://www.avesnoir.com/10-amazing-crow-facts/

http://www.thenaturalcapital.com/2012/08/five-amazing-facts-about-crows.html

http://www.interestingfunfacts.com/amazing-facts-about-crow.html

http://www.buzzfeed.com/meganm15/reasons-why-the-crow-will-be-your-new-favorite-ani-3f0z

http://thecrow.tripod.com/myth.html

white-bellied sea eagle escapes a murder of crows @ SBWR - May 2013

The white-belied sea eagle, Singapore's largest resident bird, was enjoying a sunny morning on a bare branch at one end of Pulau Buloh across from Platform 1 at SBWR. It was soon joined by a single crow but within minutes, there were quite a few more crows crowding the surrounding branches. 

As the crows grew in number, they started leapfrogging between the nearby branches constantly repositioning themselves around the eagle which was many times their size. It seemed as if there was intelligence behind the repositioning like a chess game being played on the chequerboard of branches.

The eagle was becoming increasingly concerned with the attention by the ever increasing crows. Soon, it was time for the crows to show the eagle who was boss of that corner of Pulau Buloh.

The eagle quickly decided to take flight after a crow brushed up too close against its wing. Time to escape a murder. It was immediately chased by some of the other crows which had ben waiting on the nearby branches. The eagle flew off to a less crow-ed (pun intended) part of the reserve.

white-bellied sea eagle and a murder of crows @ SBWR May2013 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Here are some links about crows :

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/11/crow-intelligence-mind_n_2457181.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_19042_6-terrifying-ways-crows-are-way-smarter-than-you-think.html

http://nusavifauna.wordpress.com/category/crows/

http://nusavifauna.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/large-billed-crow/

http://www.besgroup.org/2006/10/23/a-house-crow-went-fishing/

http://www.besgroup.org/2006/04/20/the-house-crow-and-the-bat/

http://www.besgroup.org/2009/07/13/house-crow-caching-meat/

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a094b.htm

http://blog.nus.edu.sg/lsm2251student/2010/04/14/the-bully-in-singapore/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070108-crows.html

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3802688?uid=3738992&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102330702267

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3802944?uid=3738992&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102330702267

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/world/asia/08singapore.html