Crow Annoys Kestrel

A cheeky crow challenges a female kestrel to a dogfight.
The kestrels are locals, sitting on the wires each day. Sometimes there are small conflicts with the crows, but most of the time they get along.
Kestrels don't build nests. They often breed in old crows' nests.
Observed in January 2022.
Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)

[@Crow_Friend]

Great capture.

[@kestrelsandcrows6871]

Thanks

[@HoodedCrowsOnly]

Little prankster

[@mirek5242]

ciekawe nagranie,,

[@papalegba6796]

They were playing together. The crow was making submissive head gestures at the start & neither tried to hurt the other.

[@kestrelsandcrows6871]

I also think the crow wanted to have some fun, not a real fight.
I'm not sure about the head gestures. It may look submissive for humans, but I don't think that we can know the meaning.

[@Crow_Friend]

Crows and kestrels don't 'play' together. All raptors are mortal enemies of Crows.

[@kestrelsandcrows6871]

@@Crow_Friend The kestrels are locals, they spend a lot of time on the wires. They are small raptors, no real threat for crows. Most of the time they get along with many crows around.

[@papalegba6796]

@@kestrelsandcrows6871 agree, the crows I feed don't mind kestrels, but hate sparrowhawk of a similar size. They're real smart about the level of threat each poses. That head bobbing gesture the crow makes is what they do when asking for food from me or trying to get my attention, they make clicking noises while doing it. Maybe submissive isn't quite the right word, but It's definitely not threatening at all.

[@kestrelsandcrows6871]

@@papalegba6796 Sparrowhawks could be a real threat to crow chicks. They catch perched birds, and kestrels usually don't do this.
This head bobbing and clicking could be a display of dominance in the hierarchy. I've read this somewhere, but I'm not sure whether it is true. It could possibly mean something like "I get the food first".