Ever present. Living symbiotically with us; intertwined with the follies of man. Forever cleaning up after what we see fit to waste. Squirrels of the air.
A small flock of them cautiously landed next to me the other day, and after a short while figured I was no danger and went about their business. I took a minute to capture their antics...
And also nearby, some crows... just as familiar but not nearly so affable.
I did a quick net' search and found some history about them, and learned of their long persecution at the hands of humans: Henry VIII put a bounty on their little black heads back in the day; They were designated 'Enemies of the American Public' during the depression and war eras for raiding scarce corn supplies and in the mid-west... where hundreds of thousands at a time were killed by dynamite-rigging their roosts.
Their 'Caaww'-like calling isn't very pleasing, and they'll nastily eat just about any bit of garbage or carrion. . They and their cousin the Raven are forever associated with death and the beyond, and a group of them is called a 'murder'...
Dark-casted animals, indeed.
But they are, surprisingly, considered to be among the smartest of birds.
They routinely show their intelligence with habits like stationing lookouts on the perimeters of feeding and roosting areas to warn the rest of the group of any trouble. They can distinguish a dangerous hunter with a gun from a harmless farmer with a hoe, or a harmless moving car from a stopped one with an occupant. Mama crow didn't raise no fools.
2 comments:
Excellent, I love those last two crow shots
Thanks..!
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