doves-attacked-by-crow-seagull-st-peters-square

[zooman]

This seems very unusual to me or is it common for crows and seagulls to attack smaller birds? Particularly in this densely populated area.

White doves being preyed on by a crow and seagull as they are being released in St Peters square.

Pope's peace doves attacked by crow and seagull | World news | theguardian.com

Just in case link dissapears.



Two white doves that were released as a peace gesture by children standing alongside Pope Francis were attacked by other birds.

As tens of thousands of people watched in St Peter's Square on Sunday, a seagull and a large black crow swept down on the doves after they were set free from an open window of the Apostolic Palace.


A seagull attacks a dove in St Peter's Square. Photograph: Gregorio Borgia/AP
One dove lost some feathers as it broke free from the gull. But the crow pecked repeatedly at the other dove. It was not clear what happened to the doves as they flew off.

 

[Chlidonias]

crows and gulls are pretty nasty birds. I think it was in Attenborough's Life of Birds where there was footage of greater black-backed gulls hunting puffins at their nest sites, catching them in mid-air and swallowing them whole.