Whither the Walkers Part 2

April 11, 2025April 11, 2025 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / Leave a comment

Last winter, I looked for the Walkers daily, but there was no sign of them anywhere.

A new pair of feisty crows settled in their territory, claiming the cherry tree that had been the central Walker HQ. I became resigned to never seeing either of the Walkers again.

Then, one day in March, I heard a crow caw that was just a tiny bit different from the rest. I thought to myself, “That sounds just like Wanda.”

I hadn’t realized until that moment that her “caw” had always been slightly different and more strident than the average crow, but when I heard it, a vision of Wanda’s face just popped into my mind.

The Wanda-like call came from the part of the neighbourhood that used to “belong” to White Wing and her mate. The Wings had been gone for a couple of years now, and new crows had settled there too, so I didn’t really think it COULD be Wanda.

Nevertheless, I walked over in that direction to investigate further.

The crow in question flew over and I immediately noticed the same gap in the wing feathers that Wanda had. Then she landed beside me and I saw she had a curved beak tip, just like Wanda.

It was, and is, Wanda.

She was accompanied by another, larger crow, who held back a little and, for a moment, I hoped it was Mr. Walker.

But it wasn’t him — this crow had no eye damage and lacked Mr. W’s slightly curved beak tip.

After a few days of grieving Mr. Walker’s absence, I started to observe the new companion and the dynamic between him and Wanda.

I started to call the new guy Walter.

Wanda and her new mate, Walter, on a fence photograph by June Hunter

Walter (left) and Wanda (right)

He would seem to be a younger crow. He appears to be a bit timid at first meeting, but I think he waits and watches because Wanda has appointed him head of security operations.

Wanda and her new companion on what used to White Wing’s local stop sign.

Wanda remains Boudica-like in her determination to claim and retain this new territory. She even ventures boldly back into her old territory, held now by Fearless Freddy and Freda.

This inevitably causes friction, but the newly audacious Wanda continues to push her luck. At the first sign of aggression from the Fearless family, Walter swoops in to intervene. Crisis over, it’s back to a good vantage point to resume his lookout and backup duties. Clearly, part of Wanda’s chutzpah is knowing that she has a reliable bodyguard.

Walter the Crow perched on a mossy tree photograph

Walter on lookout duty

While seeing Wanda without Mr. Walker makes me sad to realize that he is likely now off at the big Sky Roost with all the other late, great, local crows — George, Mabel, White Wing, Mr. Pants — it also makes me happy to see how she’s adapted to her circumstances.

It’s so interesting to see how she, like Mabel before her, protected and cared for her ailing mate for as long as she could, and then went on to build a new life for herself, remaining a dominant force in the crow-munity. I’m hoping that, like Mabel, Wanda will have some more good years, ruling the block with her new and younger partner.

Wanda’s metamorphosis makes me think about how complicated crow characters can be and how we really still know so little about them — and about so many of the other creatures and organisms we share this planet with.

I’ve now seen several major personality changes in crows as their life situations have changed. These changes are driven, no doubt, by a simple survival imperative, but impressive to see, nonetheless. From talking to neighbours (human*) I’ve also learned that crows can show different personality traits with different people, depending on the relationships they’ve built. For example, White Wing was always the boldest crow in the pair when I saw them, but another person told me that White Wing always held back when she saw them, and Mr. Wing was the fearless one.

In my years of watching crows I realize that, for every one thing I think I’ve figured out about them, there are a hundred more questions. Trying to find the answer to those is what gets me out of the morning every day, rain or shine and makes the walk around the same few urban blocks as exciting as a safari.

Wanda landing on a fire hydrant photograph by June Hunter

Wanda on the fire hydrant that was once White Wing’s favourite perch.

Below, a Wanda losing audio contest with a Northern Flicker.

* I am specifying here which type of neighbour for clarity. The other morning, I came home after the morning dog walk and my husband asked me how the walk had been. I said, “Great! I saw everybody.” It took us a couple of minutes to realize that he thought that “everybody” referred to people. Lol.

Whither The Walkers?

April 10, 2025 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 3 Comments

I’m often asked how the Walkers are doing, so it’s time for an update.

Mr. Walker — as shown in City Crow Stories

The Walkers are featured in my City Crow Stories book — which is about to be reissued with some new chapters.

Over the years, Mr. Walker was always the focus of my blog posts; he was by far the bolder of the pair, named for his habit of walking fearlessly beside me and the dog.

Wanda, blind in one eye for the whole time I’ve known her, was always waiting in the background, timid and a bit clumsy in her flying technique. If there was a sudden crashing about in the branches, it was usually Wanda, failing to nail the landing again.

This family dynamic underwent a dramatic change in the spring of 2023 when Mr. Walker suffered a serious eye injury.

For a while, it looked as if he would not survive, sitting motionless on high tree branches for hours at a time. It was nesting season, however, so Wanda somehow chivvied him along enough for them to complete the nest and fledge three babies. Tragically, all three were infected with avian pox. As soon as they fledged, Mr. Walker vanished and Wanda spent a desperate week or two trying to defend and care for them on her own before she and the fledglings also disappeared.

The last of the Walker fledglings to leave the nest, spring 2023

I assumed that Mr. Walker had succumbed to his eye injury and the fledglings to their illness. Wanda’s whereabouts remained a mystery. Had she worked herself into an early grave or just gone off for a long rest somewhere?

Spring 2024 brought a Walker surprise — the reappearance of both Mr Walker and Wanda back on “their” block. It was wonderful to see them again after their mysterious winter absence but, sadly, Mr. W was still far from his old self.

Wanda, who had always been the timid one of the pair, took up all the slack, boldness-wise, morphing from wallflower to warrior queen.

This is not the first time I’ve seen a change in crow family circumstances result in a personality transformation. When I first met George and Mabel, George was the swashbuckler of the family; but when he lost the top part of his beak Mabel stepped up, accessed her inner Boudica, and became the fierce protector of family and territory.

From wallflower to warrior queen

I’d hoped to see them build another nest, but Mr. W seemed too ill to put in all that work. As the hot, dry summer went on, it seemed enough for the two of them to take care of each other.

The video below shows the last time I saw them together — Wanda preening her beloved Mr. W as he appears to drift off into a blissful late summer nap.

After that day they both vanished again.

As another whole Walker-less winter went by, I assumed that we had reached the end of their family saga.

There is, however, at least one more chapter — to be revealed in tomorrow’s post.

The Plumicorn Puzzle

March 5, 2025March 5, 2025 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 2 Comments

“So, what are plumicorns?”

This may seem the very last question you need answering in these tumultuous times.

And yet, being curious and engaged with nature is more vital than ever, so let’s distract ourselves awhile with the wonder of ravens and their fabulous and theatrical head feathers.

What are plumicorns?

You know when you see what looks like feather horns on a raven’s head? They go up and then they go down, then up again.

Those are raven plumicorns.

The word plumicorn comes from the Latin words pluma (feather) and cornu (horn) so they are, literally, feather horns.

Some varieties of owl (Great Horned, Long-Eared and Short-Eared) are most readily associated with plumicorns.

Long-eared owl

But owls are not the only plumicorn-endowed birds out there.

Horned Larks, Tufted Penguins and Rockhopper Penguins are part of the club, along with our friends, the ravens.

Raven plumicorns are smaller, more subtle and not always on display. They are dynamically expressive, erect one moment, and flattened down the next, as the mood or social occasion demands.

Are Plumicorns Ears?

Although these head feather displays (especially on owls) do look a lot like waggling ears — they’re not.

Birds’ ears are actually something entirely different — funnel-shaped openings located further down the head, behind the eyes. We rarely see them as they’re usually covered with feathers.

In the photo below this crow has considerately moved their ear-covering feathers aside for a moment while having a good old scratch so we can have a quick look at their lug.

The diagram below shows the location of the ear and feather covering on a raven.

Do Crows Have Plumicorns Too?

While crows do fluff up their head feathers to look more dominant when they feel threatened, they don’t have the ability to articulate those head feathers into separate horn-like appendages.

Young crow with head feathers up to look bigger and tougher for his/her peers

Ravens also do the fluffy-head display. This, I’ve read, is an indication of submission to more dominant ravens. So, in crows it means “Back off. I’m unbelievably large and in charge,” while in ravens, it means “Who me? Nope, I’m just over hear minding my own business, sir.”

Photograph of a raven with fluffy head feathers up.

Raven with the fuzzy head display. No horns here, just deferring to my seniors.

How Do Ravens Use Plumicorns?

Plumicorns in general seem to be a bit of a scientific mystery. It’s thought that, in owls, they can serve as camouflage, making them blend in with the branches and twigs in a tree. They’re also handy for making the bird look bigger and more formidable when they feel under threat or are involved in a territorial dispute.

Looking dominant seems to be just one way in which ravens use their horn-feathers.

See the way the dominant raven in this interaction flaunts his plumicorns for emphasis as he swaggers up to his competitors.

In my years of watching ravens, I’ve seen those feather horns go up and down in all kinds of raven interactions and I’ve never found much literature on the meaning of it all. I do know that they’re not used only as a way to look dominant.

In the next video, these two ravens had just finished mating (right before our amazed eyes) and went on to have an affectionate interaction, including grooming and head feather waggling. The male is the bird on the right.

And here is some more head feather action during a more low-key raven domestic chit chat. Raven couples are affectionate to each other all year round, not just during mating season.

And here’s a raven calling in a snowfall with head feathers rising as the song continues. Did he see his mate in the distance? Or a rival? Is it a commentary on the weather? Part of the performance? Did they just think of something funny?

Yet more things we don’t really know about ravens.

It seems that the plumicorn puzzle is yet another mystery within the larger Ravenspeak riddle; another part of the complex raven vocabulary used to express everything from aggression to affection, ferocity to flirtation and, possibly, other raven moods beyond our human experience.

It now seems that the Duo-lingo Raven module, once available, will need to include translations for all those the raven plumicorn vocabulary-enhancers — perhaps the corvid equivalents of frowning, winking, smiling, smirking, cheeks being puffed out and eyes rolled.