Was playing at the park with the dog this evening, when I noticed a bunch of crows playing with something. Not sure what was going on, I kept watching from about 100' away. In a matter of a minute, I realized they were taking turns attacking what seemed to be a lifeless bird.
Not sure what drove me to do so, but I got up, walked over to the crows and they backed off, slowly. I approached the still bird, and saw its eyes half open, shutting and opening as if it were fully expecting to die shortly, in pain. It did not cry out loud as animals in pain are wont to do, but instead just laid there, as if having accepted its fate to be bullied and torn asunder. The sad looking spotted dove just seemed to have given up all hope.
I hate that.
Obviously, this is just a part of nature, but I found this unacceptable. At first I had thought that this may have been a case of a sick, weak bird that the crows had stumbled upon. But what if it wasn't? What if this was a case of animals bullying another?
I decided to let the other birds know that this dove was protected. I stood there for a bit, and the crows stared back from the trees. I walked away; they flew back and began walking towards the spotted dove; I got up and started walking towards them. This time, they didn't fly away immediately, as if they were challenging me. I turned so that I was walking directly at them; they got the message and flew into the trees, but I didn't leave it there. I walked towards them in the trees, staring them down one by one, as they hesitantly retreated to a further branch. We played this pas-de-deux for 5 minutes, when they decided they had had enough, and flew completely away.
I returned to my grassy spot and started playing with the dog again, keeping an ever-vigilant eye for their return, but they did not return.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a scrub jay appear. Still playing with the dog, it began to make its way towards the spotted dove still on the ground, unmoved. In less than a minute, another scrub jay appeared, and I knew they were up to trouble. They were making their way to the dove, so I walked towards them. They somehow thought I was not going to bother them, as they ignored me up until I was 10 feet away from them. As if realizing I might trouble them, they flew into a couple of nearby bushes, waiting for me to leave. I did not. Instead, I followed them and stared them down until they flew away -- talk about bravado, they weren't concerned even while I was just two feet away from them! After they flew away, I took another look at the dove, and this time, its eyes were wide open, seemingly aware that death was not YET coming.
Again, I walked back to my grassy spot and began playing with the dog while keeping an eye on those scrub jays, but they gave up and flew away.
At this point, the sun was starting to set, and the realization that I might have to leave soon, I kept hope up that this bird would struggle away and hide. I decided at that point, I would pick up the dove and place it in the bushes where it could be - at least temporarily - protected, if I were to leave.
And then it happened: the dove got up, flapped its wings, and flew away! It took a round-about direction and flew over my head, as if to give thanks, and disappeared 200 feet in the opposite direction. Well there you go: it was NOT a weak, sick bird, but one that was surprised and being bullied to death.
I saved a bird from being bullied to death. That made my day.
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