There are several carrion crows in the local area that have splashes of white on their wings. One in particular always catches the eye as its wings are almost completely white.
These birds are undoubtedly related and are illustrating a common mutation. As the crows in this area have few predators, these markings are unlikely to disadvantage them in any way. This means that there is every likelihood that the number of discoloured birds will increase. It will certainly be interesting to see if that proves to be the case over the next few years.
I once saw a crow being chased by a goshawk. The crow cleverly headed for a large oak tree hoping to outmanoeuvre the hawk. Both birds entered the confines of the tree in rapid succession. The next things was a loud crack as a rotten bough was broken from the tree. The crow emerged unscathed from the far side of the tree, but there was no sign of the hawk. After a few minutes which I presume was time it needed to recover from its crash landing, the hawk flew off.
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