Pat went outside early this morning. There were no crows in sight. She was still trying to keep the neighbors from thinking of her as the nutty crow lady. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching. Not seeing anyone, she gave the food call, caw, caw, caw, caw. Just then, a man and his dog came into view on the sidewalk. The guy looked at Pat like she was nuts and shook his head. At the same time, a crow is answering Pat with caw, caw, caw, caw. The guy on the sidewalk started laughing and didn’t let up as he went on past the house. The crazy crow lady has been busted again.

Dave Thomas

4/25/2024

We are always surprised by what we learn from the crow world.

Pat thought it would be nice for the crows to have drinking water available. She filled a bowl with water and placed it on the driveway for them. The next morning, she went out and gave the food call, caw, caw, caw, caw. It was only a few minutes before five crows landed and headed for the food.  Pat went back into the house and left them to their breakfast.  After a few minutes, she looked out the window to check on them. To her amazement, the crows were all picking up a piece of bread and dunking it in the water bowl before swallowing it. Pat always gave them fresh bread, but apparently it didn’t go down well.  It’s no big deal for crows, they just start dunking.

Dave Thomas

4/25/2024

Pat had put the food out and all five crows were eating. The original five crows, including the guy with the mangled foot, were busy scoffing it up. We were to have a new dishwasher installed that morning, and while the crows were eating, the installer showed up in his truck. The installer backed his truck into the driveway and scared the crows into flight. One crow went to the neighbor’s liquid amber tree, and the rest just disappeared. We determined that the one in the tree was the one who liked to make conversation with Pat. It is a little smaller than the boss crow, and we figure it to be a female or an offspring. For identification purposes, I’ll call it “The Talker.”

The Talker didn’t know why that guy and that truck were in our driveway, and he was sounding the alarm. The installer was here about an hour, and The Talker raised hell the entire time. It was giving us the “Trill, trill, trill” and “Caw, caw, caw” over and over. What a mouth!

The installer loaded the old dishwasher into his truck and picked up the packing materials he had stacked on the driveway, and he placed all the trash in the truck also. He came back into the house and took a look to see that everything was clean. When finished, Pat walked him to the door. As the guy walked to his truck, The Talker came out of his tree, and the other four crows appeared. They were flying in circles, doing fly-by’s on the guy, and screaming caws at the top of their lungs at him. The guy turns around to Pat and says, “I don’t think these crows like me.” How perceptive.

As usual, we will be left with a question. Were the crows sounding the alarm against a trespasser? Or were they just mad because the guy interrupted their breakfast?

Dave Thomas

4/18/2024

Some Prose and Crows

We are still trying to learn more about how the crow-world operates. It would be great if we could crack the language code. Is there a Rosetta Stone that includes the crows?

We’ve heard the crows voice some different stuff this week. One morning, Pat took some food out. None of the crows had arrived yet, so she gave the food call, “Caw caw caw caw.” She immediately got an answer in kind, and, in a minute or so, the crow with the mangled foot landed on the driveway. He saw that he was alone, so he gave the 4-caw summons. Then, he must have been angry about the tardiness because in a louder voice, he gave out a trill and then 3 caws and then 2 caws and then 2 caws again. The other four birds showed up in less than a minute.

Punctuality must be important in the crow world. They seem to get upset if everyone doesn’t show up on time. On another morning, Pat went outside with the food, and again, no crows had arrived. She gave the 4-Caw summons and got 4 caws in reply. In less than a minute, the crow with the mangled foot landed on the driveway. Seeing that he was alone, he gave the four-caw call and got a reply from the distance. After a minute or so no one had showed up, so the mangled foot guy starts yelling at the top of his lungs. “Caw caw caw caw,” and then three crows came followed by two crows. Then another two caws. It was so loud that I could hear it in the house. Having been chewed out in good fashion, the other four crows showed up in less than a minute.

There is one crow that loves to talk with Pat. We don’t know if it is the Boss Crow or one of the other guys. He’ll sit in the neighbor’s liquid amber tree just hanging out. When he sees Pat come out of the house, he gets terribly excited. He will start prancing back and forth on the limb he is standing on and bobbing his head and wiggling his butt and making little trill sounds. There is no question that he is overjoyed to see her. When Pat starts making conversation, the crow listens patiently. Then, when it is his turn, he will say his piece, and then give her a chance to speak again. The crow seems to enjoy it so much, Pat thinks he would continue the conversation all day if she consented to do so.

Dave Thomas

4/11/2024

We may be learning some new crow-speak.  They seem to use a trill in different ways. A trill is a sharp repetitive sound and comes across much like the pecking of a woodpecker, though the crows make the noise in their throat rather than hammering it out with their beaks. In the English language, we sometimes use a word in more than one way. For instance, if you were meeting a friend, you might say, “Hey!” But, if someone was breaking into your car, you would say “HEY!!!” with more volume.

Pat’s crow friend that likes to make conversation sees her and gets all excited. He goes “trill, trill, trill.” When the crow with the mangled foot chewed out his cohorts he went “TRILL, TRILL, TRILL!” I couldn’t hear any difference in the delivery other than the volume.   I’ll keep listening and hopefully will hear other variations of the trill sound.

Dave Thomas

4/2/2024