It’s been a lot of fun to try and understand what the crows mean by their actions and the noises they make. For instance, the four caw, “Caw, caw, caw, caw” seems to mean “food” or to be a summons to food or to meet up. We are still not sure what the fly by means. It could be a recognition and greeting, or they may just be looking things over. Hopefully, we will understand better as we see more of the crows.

The crows have a lot of ground to cover when hunting or scavenging. A block south of us is a big canyon with a highway running through it. It also contains plenty of trees and bushes and good ground cover. About a quarter mile north of us is another canyon that is also well-covered with vegetation. Between the two canyons is a strip mall that the crows like to check out. The situation must be pretty grim if the crows can’t find food in these locations, and they are forced to come to our house and beg.

Our daughter, Terri, lives just over a mile from us, so she comes over almost every day to check on us and help out. She takes us both to the doctor, buys groceries, and does a million other things to keep us going. I mention this because the crows see her, sometimes many times a day, parking in the driveway and getting out of her car. Also, she sometimes feeds the crows and gives the food call, “Caw, caw, caw, caw.” The crows recognize her as they do Pat.

Yesterday, Terri was coming over to our house. She came down the main thoroughfare and turned left onto the side street just before the mall. She travelled a couple of blocks and made a couple of turns before heading down the block to our house. Evidently, the crows had been circling the mall, and from their height, spotted her car. As Terri came down the block, she looked through her windshield and saw a crow flying just ahead of her.  She glanced up at her moonroof (sunroof?), and saw crows flying above her. When she turned into our driveway, the crows landed in the trees and started jabbering. She couldn’t believe that the crows had provided an airborne escort all the way down the block. You may think I am stretching things a bit, but I am being straight with you. Let me ask you this:  Have you ever seen anyone else with such an escort? Of course not. They did it because they recognized Terri and/or her car and thought they might be able to promote a snack.

Dave Thomas

1/11/2024