The crow that has spread terror in Hazaribagh’s Okni Mohalla on Monday. Picture by Vishvendu Jaipuriar

No, this Hazaribagh crow hasn’t seen the Alfred Hitchcock horror classic The Birds.

In the 1963 film, crows, sparrows and seagulls kill, hurt and terrorise human beings in California for no apparent reason. In August 2012, a solitary crow of the densely populated Okni Mohalla, Hazaribagh town, has gone ballistic with its beak.

On Sunday evening, it jabbed a four-year-old boy with its beak on his head, which caused blood to ooze out. Harshit (4), a nursery student of Sister Nivedita Montessori School, was playing on the second floor of his house when the crow swooped down to attack him.

“I ran out hearing his cries and found blood on his head. The doctor asked us to keep the wound clean with an antiseptic swab but otherwise asked us not to worry,” said aunt Sujata Jamuar.

Harshit is not the only one to have fallen foul of the crow. All the women go to their terraces armed with sticks to ward off the winged terror.

They said the attacks started a fortnight ago. Resident Asha Devi recalled that she was at the terrace of her home when suddenly the crow came from behind and attacked her.

“It knocked my head with its beak but I managed to flee. Since then, I carry a stick with me to shoo it off. Everyday, this crow attacks seven to 10 people in this area,” she said.

There seems to be no clue to the mystery of the bird’s choleric temper. Many crows swoop down for food and threaten to attack humans if they come too close, but that is mostly self-protection or bluff.

This crow isn’t bluffing. Even humans know it. “We have asked children not to venture out unless accompanied by adults who would take proper precautions against the crow attack,” said Subodh Kumar, a contractor.

Wildlife activist Satya Prakash who runs an NGO, Neo Human Foundation, tried to explain why the crow was in attack mode.

“Crows are intelligent birds. Usually, they get ultra-protective when young ones start flying, more so the group’s oldest member. That’s when attacks on humans may take place. The death of a baby crow makes others violent. In this case, the behaviour of this crow needs to be studied,” he said.

Caw, caw, any clues?