Living in a crow-eat-crow world
Last night, I heard raucous squawks from the garden and went to the window. A carrion crow was sitting on the outer branches of the ash tree, ducking its head as the parent jackdaws divebombed it. As it flew off, I saw what the crow was carrying - a tiny, naked jackdaw chick, yellow beak open. Shortly afterwards, the crow returned and took another, like a baby-carrying stork gone bad.
Things happen to chicks and eggs all the time, and jackdaws are a common species, but when it's going on in your garden it's difficult to ignore! The parent birds' distress was easy to see and understand - they had put a lot of time and energy into laying eggs, incubating them and then feeding the chicks. It might seem like that's all gone to waste, but their effort has now been recycled into young crows instead.
It wasn't a good result for the jackdaws, but it's possible that the jackdaw chicks had been fed eggs or young from the nest of another species (though mostly they eat invertebrates). It's a crow-eat-crow world, after all.
I'm not sure what's happened to the jackdaw nest now, hidden away in a hole in the ash tree. This morning, the adults were feeding busily in the garden again - it seems that there are still some chicks left to feed.
Jackdaws lay four or five eggs, so there could be two or three chicks left. The loss of two siblings could even give those remaining a better chance of survival. However, if they're all gone, that's the end of their breeding season, as they only have one brood per year.
Whatever happens, I'll still enjoy watching these intelligent, beautiful birds as they go about their business in the garden - and that includes the carrion crows, too.