Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Spider Silk - Duct Tape for Bird Nests
Hummingbird sitting on its tiny nest built of plant material held together with spider's silk
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • BirdNote Daily
    • Bring Birds Back
    • Threatened
    • BirdNote Presents
    • Sound Escapes
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • The Team
    • Board Members
    • DEI/IDEA Commitment
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

The Crow and the Gull

August 8, 2020
What's that crafty bird up to?
Listen Now
Subscribe
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Crows and gulls at the shore Expand Image
© Dale Musselman

Crows and gulls are opportunists - grabbing a bite wherever, whenever, however they can. Listener Nick Woodiwiss of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, wrote to BirdNote about a funny scene between an American Crow and a Glaucous-winged Gull on the beach. It seems that crows and gulls are frequent adversaries! Can you guess who won?

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

The Crow and the Gull –
A Listener’s Story

Adapted by Ellen Blackstone


This is BirdNote!

[Sounds of Glaucous-winged Gulls and crows]

Listener Nick Woodiwiss of Vancouver Island, British Columbia tells this amusing story: [waves at the edge of the beach]

“I walk nearly every day, along the beach and on the forest trails. One time last fall when the tide was low, a group of gulls and crows were on the beach, mooching about, looking for what had been washed up. I saw an immature gull feeding on a dead crab. Evidently a crow saw it, too.

“As I watched, the crow hopped up behind the gull. As crows do, it turned its head to one side in an "Hmmm, what have you got there?" type of look. Then, the crow reached out with its beak, pulled on one of the gull's tail-feathers, and immediately hopped backwards. The gull turned around to see what had touched it. The crow looked away, all innocent.   [light waves lapping]

The gull went back to the crab shell, and the whole scene was repeated. But this time when the gull turned around, the crow was quite a way behind and to the side of him. The crow was making a big fuss — digging in the sand for some hidden treasure.  The gull became intrigued by what the crow was after and moved over to have a look. In a flash, the crow hopped up and grabbed the crab shell!” [Bill clapping of American Crow]

Very crafty, these crows!  [Caw caw]

Thanks, Nick! Great story. And for BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.

### 

Call of the birds provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Glaucous-winged Gull recorded by A.A.Allen; American Crow recorded by G.A. Keller.
Bill clattering of American Crow by Martyn Stewart, naturesound.org
Ambient waves by C. Peterson
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org     August 2016/2020     Narrator: Mary McCann

ID# AMCR-gull-01-2010-08-31           AMCR-gull-01

Ellen Blackstone
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Tags: humor, listener story

Related Resources

American Crow – More at the Audubon Guide to North American BirdsGlaucous-winged Gull – More at the Audubon Guide to North American BirdsAmerican Crow - More at All About BirdsGlaucous-winged Gull - More at All About Birds

More About These Birds

American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)

Corvus brachyrhynchos

Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)

Larus glaucescens

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

November 5, 2017

Canada Geese Caption Comments

By BirdNote Gallery
BirdNote Facebook fans are so clever!
October 5, 2015

What Do You Call a Group of BirdNote Listeners?

By BirdNote Gallery
We recently ran a show about collective nouns for groups of birds,

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • About
  • Annual Report
  • Contact
  • Science Advisory Council
  • Pitch Page
  • Sights & Sounds
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy