House crow (Corvus splendens) attempt to cooperatively kleptoparasitize Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

The House Crow (Corvus splendens) is a bioinvader to the Red Sea region and has been shown to negatively impact indigenous species. We describe attempts by House Crows to acquire an ordinarily inaccessible, high quality food source by mobbing Western Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in large coordinated groups. The crows mobbed perched Osprey that had successfully caught fish in 176 observed attempts to steal the otherwise inaccessible food source. However, crows succeeded in forcing Osprey to abandon fish on only seven occasions (∼4%). The crows then jointly fed on the abandoned fish. The consistency in mobbing Osprey and the low rate of success suggests House Crows are aware of the energetic value of fish.