Our Pit Stop
Apparently, we are not alone.
Once the temps began warming, our yard was, once again, a pit-stop for a multitude of passers-by.
Well, I thought it was a pit-stop.
Crows, against my wishes, decided to build a nest in the pines this year. They become noisy...very noisy...when chasing away the Barred Owl, for instance, and I watched the whole thing through my binoculars...amazing teamwork among the Crows!!
Intelligent birds, did you know that there have been studies done which indicate that Crows can actually recognize humans?
Now that, to me, is downright scary!
Although I have been watching them in action a lot this year, they have never been one of my favorites. Their incessant and constant cawing when chasing an enemy out of the woods and into the sky breaks the silence when I'm out working in the yard.
Perhaps they were the ones who announced our yard as a great pit-stop, because, following their lead, we were then invaded by a huge flock of Gackles, the pesky nuisances that keep all the songbirds away.
Taking their sweet old time at the feeders, crunching and munching away, while all the "little ones" kept their distance, they finally took to the surrounding trees.
Sharing our pit-stop with
Comments
There is an excellent book entitled 'Gifts of the Crow' by John Marzluff and Tony Angell explaning the research and links. Some serious stuff but also hilarious examples of crow intelligence and emotionality.
I love owls but we don't see them in the suburbs but Phil used to see them on the golf course where he used to play.
It's always a great pity when larger more aggressive birds chase the smaller ones away so hopefully those 'grackles' will move on soon.
Thank you for sharing all this with us and I am sure crows are extra intelligent. We often see magpies chasing crows in the air to I imagine stop the crows raiding their nests. Quite an aerial battle goes on at times.
We have a gang in our neighbourhood that terrorizes the robins and there used to be one that turned a silver colour - he must have been really old.
The grackles are bullies at the feeders and I'm thinking a water gun might do the trick. :-)