Last summer, the visits from the crows were pretty regular. They showed up within a few minutes of 6:15 A.M. and had their morning snack. That was usually the only visit of the day. Their habits have changed considerably in the last couple of months. We’ve had rain and fog, cooler temperatures, Daylight Savings, and the beginning of spring. The regular group of five usually shows up on schedule. That would be Boss Crow, Lame Foot, Bouncer, Clucker, and one other that we guess is a mate. Sometimes, nine crows show up. We figure that those birds are members of the extended family and are there because something has happened to their regular food source. Once in a while, 21 birds show up, and, on rare occasions, there can be as many as 40 to 50 birds.

Sometimes Lame Foot will drop by several times during the day. These visits are social rather than for food. He really enjoys talking to Pat, so these extra visits are for conversations. He will arrive flying at window height so she will know he is there. Pat will go outside, and they will exchange stories and catch up on the gossip for the day. Lame Foot is very well-mannered.  He stands quietly and listens while Pat speaks her piece and then he gives his report.

Pat still gets escorted. The other morning, she went to the grocery store and had an escort both ways. The crows fly ahead of her and fly low enough that she can see them easily.

Another day, as Pat went out to feed the crows, a neighbor lady was coming up the sidewalk on her morning walk. Pat went on down to the sidewalk and started chatting. The crows were used to being fed as soon as Pat appeared, so they began flying in circles and squawking. The neighbor says, “I know you’ve been feeding the birds for a while, but do you recognize any of them.?”  Pat says, “This is my original group, and the have traits that tell me who they are. Boss Crow likes to sit on the garage rest and never stops jabbering. You can see Lame Foot’s problem. Bouncer bounces rather than walking. Clucker clucks like a chicken when he talks. The fifth bird is a little smaller than the others, so we figure she is a mate.” The neighbor says, “Well, I sure recognize Boss Crow. He never shuts up!”  After a few more exchanges, the neighbor continued on her walk while Pat fed the crows and got them quieted down.

Last year, while listening to a book about crows, I heard a paragraph about crows enjoying their version of windsurfing. On a windy day, they get on the roof of a building and jump off into the wind and perform acrobatics. They do circles and hover and float up and down and do fancy little tricks. After a crow has had his turn, the next guy jumps off. They do tricks that seem highly unlikely for a bird.

One day Pat was going to the hospital for a blood draw. It was a nice day, but windier than usual. As Pat parked the car, she glanced at the building across the street and saw five crows standing on the edge of the roof. Suddenly, a crow leaped off the roof and into the air. There must have been a strong updraft at the spot they had chosen.  They would hover in place and then start doing circles and turns as they rode the updraft and then dive lower and spread their wings to be carried aloft again. As the crow finished, he returned to the roof and the next guy would jump off. Pat said they were like a bunch of kids taking turns to slide down a hill.

Dave Thomas

3/27/2025