Something to Crow About

by Gail Gillogly
Spring 2003

My name is Gail Gillogly and I am the new editor of the HBNewsletter's From the Field column. I work at a 10.5 acre Botanical Garden where I am the only full time employee but have a super part-time assistant who also loves nature and has birds. We are outside year round and see a lot of great wildlife.

In some of the “feathered folklore”, Crow’s are perceived as bad omens, some people even fearing the appearance of these wonderful beings thinking of them as messengers of death or disaster within the family. Coincidence, along with obvious health problems could contribute to these fears, not to take away from the perception of death the Crow utilizes accordingly for survival. What a myriad of color has been revealed to me this year from this blackbird we simply call the “Crow”.

I take leftovers from my crew’s dishes to work with me a couple of times a week and put it under these two trees down by my office. Not many people frequent there as it is away from the main walks of the garden. There is an abundance of wildlife there and it is a joy to see who shows up daily. This year my assistant Tammy and I have been keeping tabs on two families of Crows who have nested in the acreage. One of the families has four members; the other family has three. We have watched the babies grow and learn and they keep the days comically interesting.

The fledglings at first were obvious; they have this wonderful hop-dance-strut-lope thing going on, staying close to the ground, only flying short distances or to lower branches. They have an extremely tight family unit, and they are never far from each other. In the family of four, the babies are always with one another. Sadly, at first the two families for some reason did not interact together. So in the family of three the fledgling didn’t have that camaraderie the other two shared, although the parents were always there. Since the family of four nested atop a huge tree near the office, they dominated the area early on.

The two siblings’ are always up to mischief trying new things and exploring, one day we noticed one of the babies hanging by his beak on the end of a low branch, swinging. Then on more than one occasion after that we would observe a baby jump from the ground to get a hold of a low branch and swing and dangle until it couldn’t hold on any more, this was really funny to see. On another occasion the two babies had a piece of bark, they were playing tug of war, then they would chase one another, the leader carrying the bark, then who ever had the bark would turn around and stick it in the others face, daring them to grab the other end. After seeing this, we decided that we would put some toys out to see if they would play with them, it will be interesting to see which toy they choose, if any or all.

Previous to this year, I had no idea Crow’s were gatherers. Early in June we noticed, I believe the male (he had a broken tail feather that hung down for quite awhile before molting), he looked as if he were making a pile of something from where we were standing. Tammy had put out some crackers earlier and thought he may be hiding one. When he left, we went to investigate. Initially we had a difficult time locating his stash even though we walked directly over to where we had seen him make a pile. The camouflage was indeed perfect with sticks, leaves and even dirt and tiny debris on top. We lifted a side up very carefully and there before our eye’s was the treasure cracker. Later in the afternoon we noticed him at the treasure site, he uncovered it with a flip and off he flew with his cracker.

After the two had fledged, we noticed the mother had been seriously injured. Initially we thought someone had shot her (it seems humans have always been encouraged to kill or destroy any thing of abundance, including their own kind. Thankfully, this is the only species in the world that does this). The feathers on her back towards her right wing are almost sticking out in a circle of sorts. Looking through the binoculars, I even thought maybe an arrow had pierced just under her wing through the skin. She also suffered leg damage so walks with a limp. Now I believe either a hawk or owl is the attacker. I have worried over her and she has come a long way in regaining her health and strengthening her leg again.

The squirrels feed quite often with the Crow’s, other birds such as Cardinal’s, Thrasher’s, Blue Jay’s and such are allowed to flit in and out, sometimes feeding at the edges of the feeding circle. As you can probably surmise, the Crow’s and Squirrel’s are planted right in the big middle of it all. When the feed pile begins to diminish greed rears its ugly head and the show begins, head to head they are equally acrobatic and to see a challenge for the last almond is very entertaining, victory is divided with each winning some of the time. Funny both species are gatherers.

On several occasions, we have put out watermelon. I certainly thought the first thing the Crow’s would go for is the seeds. We put out a bottom section like a bowl, when we went to investigate they had actually chosen the juice first, the meat of the melon second, and of coarse the rind was for fun and games. It was funny to see the father fly off with a large piece of dried rind, not to share with anyone, just for his self.
I would say that within the last three weeks or so the other family of three has started to associate quite a bit with the larger family. Everyone has been going through a horrible mass molt with one of the youngsters loosing two of his secondary flights on one wing. I understand that during a molt, which must be normal this time of year, Crow’s do what is termed as “anting”. It is said there is a possibility that eating the ants relieves the severe itching of the heavy molt. I find this extremely interesting and would like to see if this is something that may be incorporated within our companions. We have observed them “anting” especially in the moist areas.

It has been quite hot these last several weeks with almost no rain since the first week of June. They really enjoy when we set the sprinkler out for them, this is the “feather’s up, bathe and bask time”. They shower in the sprinkler, get sopping wet, and then sunbathe with all feathers standing on end, what a sight this is. I think all the birds enjoy the sprinkler although the Thrasher’s seem to prefer a dirt bath.

The Crow’s use water for dipping their food into about as much as the raccoons do it seems. They love crunchy foods but also go straight for the water with it, whether it be a convenient mud hole, one of the bird bath’s or the waterfall of the pond area.
I have noticed if you don’t make eye contact they will allow you to get closer, maybe too; they are realizing we are not a threat. I have noticed this same thing in companion parrots that are new to the home. Especially rescue cases, they really seem to feel threatened if you look directly at them. In many of the American Indian cultures, it is considered not only rude but a challenge or a threat to look directly into someone’s eyes.
This summer has been blessed in the company of these amazing birds. Fortunately, they are still living in the area, and I don’t know what fall will bring; if they will migrate to another area or stay with us. Selfishly I wish them to stay.

The wonder that these little black jewels have aroused in me intrigued me to do some research about them. I will just add a few things I really enjoyed and include some of the awesome links I came across in my search. Hopefully this has as well aroused your own curiosity enough to make you want to understand the Crow in a more personal manner. I wish people could understand the intelligence of all beings, not just human.

Here are a few of my favorite facts:

Crow’s are known to mate for life. Most Crow families have 3 or more attending the nest. This includes feeding who ever is incubating (male & female share in this), feeding the babies once they have hatched and help in defending the nest site (this unity reminds me of the wolf). Helpers include offspring from previous years. It is believed they may stay and assist for up to 5 years or so. Babies have blue eyes that later turn black.

Crow’s remember family members, even if they haven’t seen them for months or years. Young Crow’s may go wandering then join back into the family group again.

As I mentioned above “anting” may take the itch away during the molting season.

Dunking food in the water? They use absorbent foods to take water back to the nest for the babies or the incubating Crow. . (tool usage? as good as a Dixie cup).

Crow’s have a defense system known as “mobbing”. If a distress call is put out, all Crows within hearing will come to assist; whether it be a hawk, owl or some other non-human predator, they will attack together. Hunter’s have mimicked this “distress call” to bring in Crow’s (how sad), It is said they do not attack humans as seen in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds”. Some tame Crow’s however seem to find the top of the head a comfortable site to land; unfortunately this can scare someone not knowing the intention of the Crow is not aggressive (they sport a wing span of 3 feet, yikes!).

As far as life span, most don’t make it to adult hood. Assuming they do, they can expect to live over 10yrs. Most who make it will live to 20yrs with an occasional 30yrs.

This has certainly been something for me to Crow about.
Gail Gillogly

Links:

http://birding.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=
http%3A%2F%2Fbirds. cornell.edu%2Fcrows%2Fcstudyoverv.htm

http://www.zeal.com/category/preview.jhtml?cid=928526

http://www.zeal.com/exit.jhtml;jsessionid=
EJXQKEBITUI5NLAQQA1GDPVMCCADSYNN?cid=928526&wid
=203224&so=&xr =/category/preview.jhtml%3Fcid%3D928526

http://birds.cornell.edu/publications/livingbird/spring98/crowsSp98.htm

http://www.crows.net/