My Crows
by Lorraine Wade
Summer 2003
I consider myself fortunate to have been granted the privilege of hosting a family of crows on my property for the past five years, ever since I relocated here in the beautiful Thousand Islands area of Canada. This year, the Crow Family counts seven members and consists of Mom and Dad (Harry) as well as two surviving juveniles from last year and three new spring babies. Harry is the only ‘named’ member of the family because he returns year after year and, every new spring, he acts towards us with increasing familiarity. I am aware that crows mate for life, but I must say that our Mrs. Crow is rather retiring and inconspicuous, a good and devoted but shy mama. She is therefore difficult for us to recognize unless she is with Harry. He, however, will visit on his own, especially before and after breeding season.
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The Crow Family Visiting |
The Crow Family comes foraging on my property every day during the breeding season, spending quite some time looking for fresh, tasty and nutritious greens, but mostly hunting for small living creatures such as insects, spiders, worms and even baby field mice and garter snakes. Although crows eat mostly vegetation such as grains and seeds for a large part of the year, during breeding season they, and specially the babies since they are busy growing so rapidly, require a large amount of protein rich foods. I enjoy observing them and never tire of their antics!
In early spring, Harry and mate selected their ideal crow’s nest site, high up in a nearby large oak tree. They do not tend to reuse old nests from previous years, preferring to start fresh every year. The ospreys, however, are not loath to recycle them! It is always interesting to observe the hard working crows. Soon, the parents started locating and selecting branches while the two adolescents perched on nearby branches and watched. When the parents left with a beak full towards the nest, they would follow and continue observing.
A couple of days later, the young ones were also picking up a few twigs and pieces of bark and debris here and there, taking them to the nest following Dad: They were imprinting their future role as parents. The juveniles were hard at crow school, learning the fine art of twig selection and the science of nest building. By then, Mom appeared to be staying home, building the nest with the material contributed by Dad and the kids. Eventually, eggs were laid. The young ones went out with either Mom or Dad and learned to bring back food to feed the nest nanny and eventually the babies. I could not see if they fed the nest sitter who, in turn would feed the hatchlings, or if they fed them directly. This year's nestlings became fledglings and now that they are fully fledged, it is even more interesting to observe them developing and maturing on a daily basis.
During their first foraging outings, the nest mates followed the parents, picking up very little food on their own but crying plaintively and loudly with gaping beaks. Parents would deliberately pick up a tidbit in a manner such that the babies could observe the process. They would then place the food directly into the wide open, hungry beaks.
The older siblings would observe and learn and eventually sometime help in the process as well. In due time, parents took longer and longer to respond to the cries and the youngsters, who would try and experiment by picking up small bits themselves. Parents would sometime drop choice morsels in front of the young ones, pushing the bits around with their beaks, obviously signaling the babies to eat.
As of now, the nestlings are mostly feeding themselves. But some signs of babyhood still remain. Their plumage is rather scruffy, as if the bird outgrew its coat. I assume they will be molting soon or they may even have started already. They still call for food at times as they are still lacking experience at finding enough insects. Some skermishes erupt when one of the babies finds a juicy worm and refuses to share!
The Crow Family always sends a scout first to locate food and, after the lookout has found and tried and tasted the food, he will call the family over. He then stands guard. Usually it is Dad’s job, but these days, more and more often, one of last year's juveniles takes on, or is assigned, that role and copies Harry’s vigilant stance.
Harry Standing Guard |
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The babies are also practicing their vocalizations. It is really amusing! They are going from baby cries to trying their vocal chords at copying the older siblings and parents. It remind me of a teenage boy's breaking voice. Crows have quite a varied vocabulary of calls. Next summer, I plan to concentrate on listening, and maybe recording, some of their sounds in order to relate to the various calls and try to interpret them. The strangest one I have heard sounds a bit like a noisy swallowing sound deep in the throat. I thought at first that it must have been a mating call, except that the babies were right there in front of me, and the parents only produce one clutch per year. None of my books mentions this particular distinctive call. Since it is reminiscent of a noisy swallowing sound, could it be Mom’s way of showing her babies that this item is edible foodstuff to be swallowed!?
The Crow Family comes to my property at least 5 times a day, staying longer in early mornings and late afternoons. This is their prime territory. I have never seen them fight with other crows over this space, but it may be because Harry has ruled this part of the world for (at least) five years.
Last year, there were 4 nestlings. One had a pronounced malformation to the leg and couldn't perch at all. I didn't see it happen personally but I think he might have been either expulsed from the nest rather than falling from it, or possibly, the parents only found out after he left the nest the first time that he couldn’t perch. I was alerted to the baby by the family’s cries. Everyone appeared distressed. The baby was calling and the older members seemed to be encouraging him to move about and appeared to be trying to coax him towards some shrubs. When I came close enough to pick him up, the vocalization increased and I must admit that I was not too sure of myself at that point. I was half expecting to be mobbed! However, I very slowly and gently picked up the little one, making sure that my actions could be seen by the whole family. They watched intently. I offered a piece of bread soaked in water and he ate with appetite. I was thankful that, at least, he didn’t appear ill. I took him to the shade and protection of a shrub and stayed with him for a while. I could see that he was unable to perch and that it was not a break but a malformation. I decided to place him in the 'hospital cage' which I keep especially for wildlife in distress, and nurture him for a few days until the other nestlings fledged. I wanted to wait and see if he would strengthen his lame leg and could rejoin his family in time. The family stayed around for a long time, but became quieter after a while. I could see that Harry was still guarding the baby so I took the cage inside the house to allow him to continue his duties to the rest of the family.
When it became evident that his situation was not improving and that he could never fend for himself, I made the difficult decision to give him a release rather than to let him die of hunger or as prey. If he could have perched it might have been different, but as he couldn't, there was no hope for his survival. I know the owl and the fox also need to eat, but being a pet bird owner, I could not resign myself to letting nature take its course. Eventually, I took him to a wildlife rehabilitator a few miles away and had him put to sleep by injection. I held him during the procedure and he fell asleep almost instantly. Although last year’s clutch had four fledglings, and following the loss of the lame baby, instead of three juveniles this year there are only two: one didn't make it through winter. He probably became food for others, that is life, but I prefer not to dwell on it…
I know I am breaking a cardinal rule with regards to wildlife, but in order to observe their behavior, I do supplement their foraging food once a day, only as an 'extra', and not in sufficient quantity for the birds to depend on this for survival. There are days when I am not home, so it would not be fair to offer a full meal at dinner time.
I set out for them a combination of the dry dog food kibble which I feed to my dog Zita (Viszla), a semi-moist dog food sold in pouches, and the Tropican pellets I feed to my bird Echo (CAG) as his basic diet, as well as any leftover protein food from the previous day’s dinner, chopped very finely, to which I add other items for variety. I have been doing this for the past five years and Harry and the Crow Family still return each year. I don't think that I am hurting them unduly by supplementing a bit once a day during fledgling season. I feed them on my terrace at around 6 pm. They watch for me from nearby trees. I do not attempt to tame them because that would be doing them a real disservice: Crows are not appreciated by everyone! They watch for me and wait for me from about 5:45 these days. They must judge the time by the sun because they seem to come in earlier now. I have started feeding at about 5:50 lately and will start earlier and earlier with the shortening days. As soon as I leave the terrace, one of the parents will come and check the buffet, inspect and taste any new food, then allow the young ones to come and feast. It is truly amazing to watch!
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Waiting For Me |
We store our boat at a nearly marina during the off season, and my husband performs some maintenance work on it in early fall. The marina is about 3 kilometers away “as the crow flies”. Last year, Harry and family flew over and appeared to recognize Rick despite the different environment. They circled several times and called to him until he responded. Rick compared the experience to exchanging greetings between friends! Of course we have no proof that it was indeed Harry, as he is not banded, but from their numbers and attitude, we feel quite certain that it was indeed Harry exercising his brood on a cross-country outing, preparing them for longer flights and the long winter ahead. We will be watching for them this fall when we get our boat out of the water!
Is it possible that the above observations might relate in some way to our own pet birds? We know that our parrots, specially the larger breeds, stay with their families for about 2 years for greys and even for 3 years or more in the case of some macaws, before going out on their own to mate and breed. Could it be that, as a family, they behave and learn in similar ways to the Crow Family? Time to go…“My’ crows are here!