I noticed in March that Fig suddenly and completely stopped starting any conversations with me. I would bring her in as usual in the late afternoon, and she would sit in silence for hours unless I started talking to her first, in which case she quickly became her usual chatterbox self. I thought for a while that she had caught my cold, but she was not slumped or ruffled. So I surmised that she was simply content, and happily living the life of any ordinary human bird.
Then it dawned on me, the wild Crows around town were also awfully quite. What the heck? Ah ha! Of course, the Crows have all been working together in families, as they do, building nests! Most will have been incubating eggs for a number of weeks now. It's so obvious; they are simply keeping a low profile from any predators, or trespassing Crows looking to steal some tasty eggs, and very secretively going about building their nests, incubating the eggs, then protecting the chicks. It's spring. Duh! I am no natural ornithologist, this much is clear. Plus all that nest building must make them awfully busy, focused and tired out, running around locating and collecting sticks, and grocery shopping for the mother and several new siblings eager to grow up as soon as possible. Interesting. They must be so very, very excited.
One simply never notices these things until a wild Crow comes to live at your house. It remains something of a mystery though, why would a one year old juvenile like Fig go quite? Perhaps it is because her family lives right outside, flying about her each day. I wonder, did she know that they were up to making this year's nest? Her father has visited her on our balcony several times for a quick chat, and several other times for a longer chat from the safety of the TV antennae atop the adjacent building. So, was her hushed response to mating season innate, instinctual, the natural thing for female Crows to do, or did she get the low down from her Pops? I have no idea, and will probably never know, but the only Crows making noise these days are the young Juveniles playing in the afternoons, so one thing is very clear, most of the family is busy, busy, busy going back an forth with sticks, and pine needles, and more recently, beaks stuffed full of food for hungry wee chicks on the make.
Oh yes, we can expect a raucous load of fledglings circling the skies around here mid-May. Hopefully, none of them will end up at our house this year. A Crow that cannot fly is like a Whale slumped at the bottom of the ocean, looking up at all its friends swimming about, delighting in the ocean's heights above; a sad, sad thing indeed.
Then it dawned on me, the wild Crows around town were also awfully quite. What the heck? Ah ha! Of course, the Crows have all been working together in families, as they do, building nests! Most will have been incubating eggs for a number of weeks now. It's so obvious; they are simply keeping a low profile from any predators, or trespassing Crows looking to steal some tasty eggs, and very secretively going about building their nests, incubating the eggs, then protecting the chicks. It's spring. Duh! I am no natural ornithologist, this much is clear. Plus all that nest building must make them awfully busy, focused and tired out, running around locating and collecting sticks, and grocery shopping for the mother and several new siblings eager to grow up as soon as possible. Interesting. They must be so very, very excited.
One simply never notices these things until a wild Crow comes to live at your house. It remains something of a mystery though, why would a one year old juvenile like Fig go quite? Perhaps it is because her family lives right outside, flying about her each day. I wonder, did she know that they were up to making this year's nest? Her father has visited her on our balcony several times for a quick chat, and several other times for a longer chat from the safety of the TV antennae atop the adjacent building. So, was her hushed response to mating season innate, instinctual, the natural thing for female Crows to do, or did she get the low down from her Pops? I have no idea, and will probably never know, but the only Crows making noise these days are the young Juveniles playing in the afternoons, so one thing is very clear, most of the family is busy, busy, busy going back an forth with sticks, and pine needles, and more recently, beaks stuffed full of food for hungry wee chicks on the make.
Oh yes, we can expect a raucous load of fledglings circling the skies around here mid-May. Hopefully, none of them will end up at our house this year. A Crow that cannot fly is like a Whale slumped at the bottom of the ocean, looking up at all its friends swimming about, delighting in the ocean's heights above; a sad, sad thing indeed.
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