Bonnie and the crow

This was one of those serendipitous videos that I could just throw together and upload as sort of bonus extra. My wife shouted at me to “look at this”, which normally means I’ve done something really stupid. In fact, Bonnie was being teased by a pair of crows.

Bonnie, for her part, was just trying to catch a vole she’d failed to liquidate a couple of hours previously. The crows, though, decided to have a little fun with her. By the time I’d got the camera and started filming, one of the crows had already flown off; but the other was milking this for all it was worth.

What’s interesting here is the body language, as two very intelligent creatures try to outwit each other. The crow knows exactly what he’s doing and stays just out of lunging range: you can see him bracing himself when it looks as if Bonnie is about to attack. Bonnie, for her part, very quickly cottons on to that and tries to launch a surprise attack: nearly impossible in an open meadow, but she gives it her best shot. She pretends to be disinterested, and then she pounces. Right at the end, she walks up to the tree the crow has just flown into as nonchelantly as she can. It doesn’t help.