Small Joys And A Surprise Return

October 23, 2026October 22, 2026 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 3 Comments

You may remember last year’s post about Lou, one of Mavis and Marvin’s 2025 fledglings. I always had a special spot in my heart for this little one, and hoped he’d stick around for a while.

He did stay around all winter, but disappeared around the start of this spring’s nesting season.

In many ways, I wasn’t surprised if Mom and Dad had encouraged him to move on. Their previous stay-at-home fledgling, Lucky, remained with them for almost three years. While he or she was a well-loved family member and handy reinforcement in the frequent territorial disputes with rival neighbours, Norman and Nancy, s/he wasn’t a very effective nest helper, with no new fledglings born during the “Lucky” years.

Norman & Nancy being yelled at by Marvin, Mavis & Lucky

Below is one of my all time favourite videos, showing Marvin (left) encouraging Lucky (middle) to put more oomph into his partisan cawing during one of many verbal battles with the neighbours.
It’s not the greatest video, technically, but I love the family dynamic it captures.

After two springs with no fledglings, it was time for Lucky to move on. Lesson learned, it would seem that Marvin and Mavis allowed Lou one winter with the family, before urging him to head off and see the world.

Alas, even without a “teenager” at home, Marvin and Mavis had no luck in the 2026 nesting sweepstakes.

Marvin and Mavis guarding their territory on a breezy summer day.

At one point in the summer they had a brief visit from a crow that I suspected was Lou coming home to check in on the folks. The mystery crow acted very much like Lou, but I couldn’t get a good enough look to be sure — and then they were gone again.

But, on September 23, he was definitely back.

Lou’s personality is enough to provide a strong clue to his identity all by itself— something about his general bounciness, his insatiable curiosity and constant motion. He’s prone to adopting a bowing posture, like his dad, and often scans the sky for danger — a good trait for self-preservation in any young crow.

But the gold standard of Lou-identification has always been the tiny little patch of white feather on the left side of his head.

I had assumed that he’d lose that tell-tale patch after moulting season, but it’s still there! He was still moulting a little in September, so the patch was a little harder to spot amid the scruffy plumage — but definitely visible.

You can see some of his personality, and the little white mark, in this video, taken shortly after he returned in September

By October 1, he was mostly past the moulting phase and his feather marking was much clearer.

Family group, Marvin back right, Mavis back left and Lou in foreground

Mom and Dad seem happy to have Lou move back in with them for the winter, and I am certainly happy to see three of my favourite crows back together again.

Marvin and Mavis are the crows I’ve known the longest now, with handsome Marvin chosen as the 2027 City Crow Calendar cover. His is the crow story and portrait for January, with Mavis featured in May, and Lou rounding out the year in December.

Fluffy Marvin at the start of moulting season

Marvin earlier this week

Mavis on the same day

The degree to which seeing Lou every day brightens my day is kind of ridiculous, but there it is …

Which reminds me of a blog post I’ve been bouncing around in my brain for year: “Crows and Wealth Management.”

The concept relies upon the simple formula of Joy = Wealth

It’s a simple equation, yet one we often get reversed; sometimes it just takes a young crow chasing seeds in a parking lot to help us get it right.

For more on Marvin, Mavis and Lou:

© junehunterimages, 2026. 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.

Success At Last!

June 25, 2026June 24, 2026 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 4 Comments

Having watched Norm and Nancy work so hard at the nesting game, spring after spring, with not a single fledgling to show for it, I’ve been thrilled to see them now parenting two little ones.

Now, admittedly, they may be wondering what the heck they signed up for—a common phenomenon among first-time parents.

Mum, mum, mum …!

I have been on the look out for fledglings in Norman and Nancy’s territory for weeks. Finally, in early June, I caught sight of one!

Given that Norman and Nancy live right beside our house AND that I had been fledgling-seeking for so long , it’s pretty remarkable how under-wraps they managed to keep this one.

And, as it turns out, there were two of them! Both baby crows had grey eyes by the time I spotted them, rather than the blue of a brand new fledgling. This means that Norman and Nancy managed to keep them very well hidden and safe for at least a couple of weeks before they made any kind of public debut.

Norman with the two babies

I had been looking forward to writing this happy post, but yesterday things took a turn.
I got a message from our neighbours to say that a crow had flown into their window and was unconscious. By the time I rushed over, the neighbour had approached the baby with a view to rescue, but the fledgling woke up and flew off.

I spent the rest of yesterday and all of today trying to see if little window-crasher had survived or not. It’s been difficult, as it’s so hot the crows are keeping the babies quiet and hidden up in the cooler tree canopies.

Early this morning my heart sank when I saw Norman, Nancy and a single fledgling up on the Hydro pole at the end of the lane. (Note that, at 7am, it’s already warm enough for the crows to have their beaks open to cool down.)

I kept wandering back to the same area for half an hour or so because I was almost sure I heard another fledgling in a nearby tree. I’ve been back a few times now and can say, with relative confidence, that there are still two fledglings. I haven’t managed to get a photo of them both together, but I have seen two at once and both seem relatively (given the heat) chipper.

Hopefully Crasher has learned a valuable lesson that he or she will carry into the future.

Stay safe, little ones!

Lou’s Pastimes

April 12, 2026April 12, 2026 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 8 Comments

Most of the adult crows are currently immersed in all things nest-related. Younger crows, like Lou, who have remained with their parents for a year or two, are often designated “nest helpers.”

Lou’s nest-helping forté seems to be hanging out on the eastern territorial border, keeping an eye out for Norman and Nancy (the neighbouring crows) and making sure they don’t get too close to said border.

Young crow standing with head and neck extended up in a very alert posture

Of course, Norman and Nancy are pretty busy with their own nesting efforts, so this leaves Lou with lots of time on his hands/feet. Luckily, he has many, many interests to keep himself occupied while Mom and Dad (Mavis and Marvin) are busy elsewhere.

First of all, there’s just hanging about …

Young crow hanging upside down from a branch, holding one with one foot

Sliding on bin lids …

Young crow slipping and sliding on a plastic garbage can lid, wings out

Thinking deep thoughts and gaining new perspectives …

Young crow bent over with head looking back between their legs

Young Lou the crow stands contemplatively in front of a storm drain cover Photography by June Hunter ©junehunterimages2026

Lou is never idle. He’s constantly on the move, which is probably good for his personal security, although challenging for his paparazzi.

Lou’s biggest enthusiasm is for finding things. You name it, he’s found it.
I showed him discovering coins, pebbles, berries, moss and mice in my earlier post about Lou, but that was just the beginning of his street-combing career.

He’s since found a lens from a pair of sunglasses …

The black box from a tiny aircraft … ?

A fancy hair clip …

A nice chunky eraser …

A whole delicious apple …

Of course, I only watch Lou for a few minutes a day, so I can only imagine what else he’s unearthed when I’m not around!

Apart from finding, he’s also very proficient at hiding treasures …

He did take a few moments out of his very busy schedule the other day to land on a branch beside me and make a short but eloquent speech.

While his parents are busy, they’re obviously keeping an eye on Lou and sweep by to check on him from time to time. Earlier this week, there was something alarming on the horizon …

Lou didn’t even have time to call the alarm before Dad arrived on the scene.

Nest Helper Notes:

I sometimes wonder how useful these yearly crow “helpers” actually are.
Helpfulness probably varies between individual young crows, but I know that, during the three years that Marvin and Mavis had their previous “assistant”, Lucky, with them, they had no new fledglings. It was only when Lucky left them last spring that they raised a new pair of fledglings, one of which is Lou.

I once overheard one of the volunteers at the Riefel Bird Sanctuary remark that they were pleased to see that the offspring of the sanctuary’s resident Sandhill Crane pair had moved on that spring, because the young one sticking around for a couple of years had impeded them in their breeding/nesting efforts. At the time, I wondered if that was also true of crow families, in certain cases

The Urban Nature Enthusiast

Crow and raven photographer, celebrating nature, usually in an urban setting

crow family life

Small Joys And A Surprise Return

Success At Last!

Lou’s Pastimes