I like crows. I know they're big, black and sometimes scary. I know they're very noisy - especially right now when they're dealing with their chicks. Oh, my. Such nagging parents. Such demanding children. The squawking never stops. But I really admire their cleverness.
I've been trying to catch one of the crow parents as he (or she) comes to our bird bath in the tree. The camera is ready but I'm slow.
What I'd like to capture is what the crow is doing. At first, I thought it was just having a drink. It has been very dry here and most local water sources are dry. The babies can't fly over to the creek yet and so what's a parent to do? The crow had something in its beak which was being held under the water for a few seconds at a time. It appears to be pieces of old bread scavenged from someone's garbage. Then, it flies off to the nest tree carrying the food.
But, it's the use of a tool that I admire. This crow has found a way to soften the bread as well as hydrate the baby. Pretty smart! If I ever manage a photo, I'll come back and post it.
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5 comments:
I recently watched The Birds again. Such a great movie, but the crows are creepy.
As a follow up to yesterday's post, what word would you make out of this word verification: boraphyp? I cannot make heads or tails out of this.
However, my word verification for this post was flopp. Does that mean my quip is a flop?
There are a couple of really good books about crows and ravens:
Crows: Encounters with the wise guys of the avian world by Candace Savage (Saskatoon author)
Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich
Rudee...not ALL the words made sense. Hmmm...boraphyp? That's a tough one. I think I've lost the knack...maybe only on Ruby Tuesday?
Hi Stephanie,this is a lovely post.The antics of birds in the garden is very entertaining.I love the territorial nature of the robins.
Re that "Dóchas" cream, I left a reply on my blog, but now think you probably didn't get it.
When in July will you be in Dublin? If it's after 5th, I could meet you in town and bring a cream, they're not on sale in shops. email me kcraroma@gmail.com, mimi
Crows are the most modern bird in bird world and are one of the most intelligent but I hate their squawking at 5 in the morning.
I saw a show on TV that showed crows in Japan learn't to drop nuts on the road to be squashed by cars but they kept getting skittled when they tried to eat the nut. So then they learnt to drop them on pedestrian crossings so that they had a chance to eat them when the lights turned red. Now thats clever.
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