Jackdaws are the smallest of the UK’s resident corvids. They are widespread and numerous which perhaps makes them easy to overlook or take for granted.
Superficially, jackdaws appear to be a smaller version of a rook or crow with a shorter beak and a grey hood, but they have notably different behaviour. They are highly vocal and have a tendency for playful aerobatics, especially when flocking.
A flock of jackdaws is known as a ‘clattering’, which is a perfect description. Seemingly less organised than starlings, jackdaws make tumbling, chaotic displays accompanied by babbling squawks of ‘cha! cha-cha!’ and other variations, which lends a pleasing, upbeat energy to the scene.
According to one study, clatterings are triggered via this babbling, which explains why seeing many birds take flight all at once is rarer than might be expected. It’s a bit like ‘1…2…wait, are we going on 3 or after 3? Too late, I’ve gone!’.
Numbers local to me aren’t huge, but if they get themselves organised, it can be quite impressive, even if the flock tends to fall apart fairly quickly.
When not flocking, they seem content to fly around solo or in small groups, perhaps just for fun.
They will set down somewhere and forage, gradually being joined by other birds.
If enough join the party, there might be another flock, or there might not. Who knows? They’re just jackdaws.
AT Photo 