city crow stories

Benjamin Beats The Odds

/ The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 5 Comments

This is the last in my series of  City Crow Stories updates for now, and concerns Ben, the crow with one very badly bent foot.

The stories I tell about crows are true and, therefore, do not always come with happy endings. For many months I assumed that Benjamin’s story was along the lines of:  “spirited but injured crow tries his hardest to beat the odds and stay alive, but fails in the end.”

I took the photograph of Ben seen below on May 8, 2022. He’d managed to make it through most of the fractious and competitive nesting season, without seeming to have a settled territory of his own. He always seemed to be with several birds so I couldn’t even really tell if he had a mate who had his back, as Mabel did for George.

After the long damp spring came an even longer, hot, dry summer which lasted well into October. Autumn was barely sputtering to a start when she was rear ended by a wildly impatient Winter. All of this happened without a single sighting of Ben.

As I thought about writing my City Crow updates, I envisioned having to share the sad news of both Mabel and Ben’s disappearances.

It was, then, a bit of an early holiday gift to have him just suddenly pop up again. He came surrounded by a rowdy gang of other, able-footed crows and walked right up to me as we’d seen each other only the day before.

The return of Benjamin, December 2022

I did, of course, ask him where he’d been, as is only polite. He answered me in a series of caws that could have been an animated recounting of his epic adventures — or he may just have been asking for peanuts.

I guess we’ll never know …

Benjamin, January 2023

February 2023

The story of Benjamin continues to unfold, with random appearances every few weeks, just to let me know he’s still out there, doing his best.

The stories of ALL the crows are constantly evolving. If I only had the time, I could write a daily post relaying all the small things I notice, the beautiful moments and the never ending puzzle of the crow world. The crows in your neighbourhood are just as fascinating as the seven I wrote about, and I strongly encourage you to tune into your own local crow soap operas.

Thanks so much for following along with these stories and to the many of you who purchased copies of my book. Only four copies remain on my shelf, which is pretty amazing for a book that was self published and un-advertised.

Crows are excellent story tellers, so I think it was a good decision to mostly hand the narrative reins over to them.

 

 

For the rest of the City Crow Stories … A Year On posts:

 

 

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© junehunterimages, 2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to junehunterimages with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

P/Earl & Echo — Perfect For Crow Watching

/ The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 2 Comments

Sorry — I got a bit behind on what I’d planned to be a daily series of posts about the seven crows in City Crow Stories.

Covid still gets in the way of the best laid plans.

Not to be confused with Corvids, which ARE the best laid plan.

Anyway, the former arrived in our household last week and so my husband is confined to our bedroom while the pets and I sleep at the far end of the house. Bringing him meals, checking in on him via FaceTime (which is very weird) and trying not to get sick myself,  is proving surprisingly time consuming. Luckily he’s not too ill, mostly just tired of looking at the same four walls for days on end.

But I think I have a few minutes, to write about Pearl— who I’m becoming increasingly sure is actually an Earl. Apologies in advance for typos as my copy editor is in quarantine.

Pearl was crow number six of the seven in the book, and s/he, like White Wing, is easy to spot from afar — in his or her case, because of a distinctive bent foot and pigeon-toed stance.

Male or female, I still insist that he’s channelling the same enigmatic confident captured in Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring.”

I wrote about Earl and Echo quite recently when I was working on my Crow Watching presentation last fall. They came to mind as particularly great examples of the kinds of crows with distinguishing features that are easier to start keeping track of in your own neighbourhood.

White Wing has her obvious white feather to tell her apart, but she loses it from time to time, and her mate doesn’t have any particularly exceptional features.

Point of Clarification:  I’m certain that Mr. Wing is, in fact, a unique bird — and I’m sure that, to White Wing, he’s one in a million — it’s just that my limited observational skills can’t yet tell him apart from other crows.

Earl has the added bonus (from an ID-ing perspective) of having a mate who also stands out from the crow-d, even from quite a distance.  Echo is blind in one eye and her head is in perpetual motion as she (I’m almost sure she’s the female) uses her hearing to compensate for the vision loss.

If she does detect danger she’s just as fierce as Earl in seeing off the intruders

Earl and Echo, like all crow couples, have each other’s backs …

They take a few quiet moments while Dennis the Menace (profiled in The Young And The Restless) is off having fun with his gang.


Earl is reliably to be found in the same general area each and every day.

Keeping an eye on mountain snow conditions …

Wondering if the snow is every going to stop …

Enjoying a nice paddle when the snow melts …

Promenading with Echo …

I expect to see Earl, Echo and Dennis flying about with twigs soon as nest building season gets underway. It will be time for me to start keeping an extra sharp eye out to see which of them vanishes for 2 to 3 weeks later in spring to incubate the eggs.

Then we’ll know for sure if  we’ve got a Pearl or an Earl.

P/Earl the Enigmatic

 

See also:

For the rest of the City Crow Stories … A Year On posts:

 

 

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© junehunterimages, 2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to junehunterimages with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

Mr Walker Strides On

/ The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 1 Comment

Mr. Walker is number four in my City Crow Stories book of crow characters — and his life  seems to be rambling on much as it has in previous years.

He and his mate Wanda wait for the dog and I each morning. If Mr. W is busy in the alleyway checking out the bins, Wanda will let him know it’s time.

Time to drop whatever he’s up to and get himself into position for the daily gallop alongside the “bringers of the peanuts” to the sacred spot at the foot of the massive cherry tree.

Here he is in action this very morning — showing fine promenading form once he gets neck and neck with Geordie, the dog …

As per usual, he strides/ambles/scampers alongside Geordie, waits for him to have the customary sniff at his tree, and then up onto his pedestal for the peanut payoff.

As is also routine, Wanda, having arrived at the tree via air (I’ve never seen her lower herself to pedestrian pastimes), drops down from the branches above to get in first dibs.

Mr. Walker this morning, looking as suave as ever

I wrote last summer about the Walkers’ early nesting failure and, though they did seem to be working on a second nest, I think the stress of another hot dry summer led them to just give up in order to concentrate on keeping themselves fed and hydrated.

It’s a pretty exhausting business raising fledglings, as seen in the book with pictures from 2021 when they raised two of them

They went AWOL for the latter part of the summer and imagined them just kicking back in the shade, tiny sunglasses balanced on their beaks, waiting for the cooler weather. Far too hot for any jogging, even for peanuts.

And, indeed, by fall they were back at the appointed spot — Mr. Walker ready, willing and eager to get back into training for the peanut Olympics.

On this occasion, for once, he beat Wanda to the goodies!

The simple reliability of this little daily ritual is strangely comforting — and Mr. Walker’s enthusiastic perambulation technique always brings a smile.

 

See also:  Meet The Walkers (2020)

 

 

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© junehunterimages, 2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to junehunterimages with appropriate and specific direction to the original content