We have 3 old oak trees and lots of thick shrubs and hollytrees the birds love it, there are B B and robins ,wrens etc nesting quit happlly but then the Clacking starts,all sing stop the warning crys go out then silence,the gang of 3 start making there way down through the branches they are heading to the shrubs if they can get in for and chick or 3,I've seen them flying with them dangling in there beaks,sometimes I throw a stones at the trunk of the oaks but it only stops them for a wee while then they come back,but that's nature they are clacking now they are on the prowl. :(
There's beauty in the predator as well as the prey!
Remember, these corvids have chicks to feed themselves and they act as a selective pressure upon smaller birds, eliminating lines that are less effective at hiding their progeny from predators. The whole family are intelligent, cunning scavengers and to be respected for there own character. Up my way, the ravens pick on the newborn lambs, taking the eyeballs, for example.
Naturally, some farmers like to keep that down with the shotgun. Fair enough, same with us and slugs. It's when you're not protecting your food source that it becomes more of a thorny issue. It's sometimes difficult to seperate human emotion from the bloody side of nature but intervention, in my opinion, only harms diversity as a whole.
Hmm, seem to be in ecology mode tonight. Must turn that off and do something more fun, given it's this late on a Friday.