The Crow Summer of 2023

August 20, 2023August 21, 2023 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / Leave a comment

Bongo and Bella Edition

Bongo and Bella are both looking pretty scruffy these days.

Like all crow parents, they’re dealing with the late summer trifecta of ongoing drought, moulting season and teenagers.

There has been no bonging lately, so it’s impossible for me tell, for now, who of the couple is Bongo and who is Bella.

Below: Bongo in the early summer, making his signature call. It seems to be connected to the early months of nesting and fledgling rearing as he seems to stop doing it by mid-July.

Both Bongo and Bella started moulting in July this year. From the crows I watch, it looks as if the crows that fledged their babies earlier in the year also start moulting earlier, as if the whole process is a linked timeline.

Or … it could just be that raising crow babies is so stressful it makes your feathers fall out.

One of the couple started losing some head feathers a few weeks ago …

General bits of feathers are making their escape

This morning silhouette shows the typical late summer “hipster beard” as throat feathers thin out

Certainly they both look as though they could use a week at a spa and, if such a thing existed, they have earned a spot.

Cue the daydream about what amenities a crow spa would offer … nice muddy puddles, an unsecured garbage bin buffet, unlimited preening time, no demanding fledglings allowed …

I digress; but I’m pretty sure most adult crows are engaged in similar relaxation reveries at this point in the breeding season.

Bongo and Bella started out in late May with four fledglings. The first one I didn’t even see — only a bit of a wing, probably a casualty of the local raccoon family or one of the outdoor cats.

There were three babies through early June but down to two by the end of the month.

By a combination of good luck and endless hard work, they seem to have kept the other two alive to reach teenager-hood. One of them even seems to have some of Bongo’s vocal virtuosity!

Here are a few photos of the Bongo siblings learning the important “what’s food and what isn’t” lesson through the long hot summer.

Early summer — just waiting for food delivery from mom and dad

Rose petals? More of a garnish than a main dish.

Empty peanut shell? Close, but nope.

Plastic bag? Hard no.

Squished orange? Some juicy bits yet, so yes!

Unripe walnut hus? A bit too much work.

Mom or Dad shows how it’s done with a delicious bit of discarded watermelon

Only a few more weeks to go, thinks Bongo, and Crow Spa here we come!

The Crow Summer of ’23

August 15, 2023August 15, 2023 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 20 Comments

I’ve been putting off this post because, as you may have guessed from my last mention of the Walker crows, things have not been going well for them. I know this update will make many of you sad, as it has me.

Their tragedy, set in the context of this summer’s many, many heartbreaking tragedies, can seem like “hill of beans” material; and yet, I keep watching, thinking about and reporting on the crows’ lives because I believe to my core, that we need to watch them all — the small pictures and the big picture.

For the Walkers, things went from pretty good, to very bad, to surprisingly hopeful, to disaster in a few months. To recap: by mid-April, they seemed all systems go for nesting when Mr. Walker suffered his eye injury, which put everything on hold as he recovered. By the first week of May, they were back in the nesting game. The next challenge was the empty lot next to them suddenly sprouting a massive new structure which surprisingly brought a lot of human activity right up to nest level.

The Walkers met that unexpected challenge and, in what seemed to be the final victory, got both of the two fledglings safely down out of the high nest. I really thought the odds had turned in their favour at this point.

Two Walker fledglings safely fledged

It was right at this point that Mr. Walker just disappeared. I walked that block time after time, day after day trying to spot him but only found a very exhausted Wanda (who is also blind in one eye) braving the hot dry weather, trying to keep the two fledglings fed and out of danger.

Mr. Walker, last seen around July 12

Walker Baby on July 13

Walker Fledgling on July 19

Wanda doing her best as a single parent

Exhausted Wanda

Wanda’s impaired vision has always made it hard for her to make a smooth landing on branches. I guess her depth perception is a bit off, so she was crashing from one tree to another trying her best to keep the young ones safe. But there was one danger she couldn’t keep at bay. The first baby to fledge, and then the second, started showing signs of avian pox around the beak and eyes. They are the only crows I’ve seen recently with the pox, and I won’t post photos as I just can’t bear to look at them myself. I’m not sure why these two came down with it when all of the other local fledglings I’ve seen look healthy — but I do know that having the variety that infects the beak and eye area is usually fatal.

I was away for five days for the Hornby Island trip and went up to the Walkers’ area as soon as I got back to see how things were going, only to find an eerie silence. No baby begging sounds and no Wanda. No Walkers at all, in fact — from four Walkers in early July to zero Walkers a month later

I go back at least once, often twice, a day to see if I see anyone. I have occasionally thought I caught a glimpse of Wanda, but I can’t be sure. As always, watching and becoming fond of wild creatures is, as my husband always says, “not all beer and skittles.” It does require a willingness to have your heart broken (and yet hold on to a small patient hope that fall might bring some sort of miraculous return.)

Mr. Walker in happier times, spring 2022

In Happier News …

Other local crow families are faring better – the Wings, the Bongos and the very busy Earl and Echo have managed to get through the season, although all are looking a bit bedraggled as they combine the later-stage fledgling care with a moult that seems to have started earlier than usual for some of them.

A Head Full of Crows

July 20, 2023 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 18 Comments

It’s a recurring condition with me, I’m afraid.

Often my brain gets so overwhelmed with crow thoughts that words fail me. This bout is particularly ill-timed as I am overdue in writing this blog post and I know many of you are awaiting news on the Walkers and other crows. I’m also trying to prepare a talk about crows to be delivered on Hornby Island in less than a week.

Time, therefore, to try and blast through the crow block. Here goes …

CROW BRAIN PART ONE

One of the things weighing on me, and that I’ve been reluctant to share, is that I have worrying news about the Walkers.

I was so thrilled to see that they got through Mr. Walker’s spring eye injury, the giant new house going up right beside their chimney nest and the long hot spring to the point of getting both fledglings safely out of the nest.

Fledgling number one left the nest on July 6. Fledgling number two is much smaller and probably would have stayed nest-bound longer, but I think it was just getting too hot up there, and they exited on July 8.

Baby Two’s last day in the hot nest

Days after Fledgling One was on the ground, I noticed that he or she has avian pox around one side of the mouth and eye, poor thing.

Fledgling Two looks healthier, which is good.

Walker babies, July 14

Walker Baby Two, whose tail feathers don’t seem quite developed yet

Wanda and Baby Two seeking shade in someone’s vegetable garden

Even more worrying; I haven’t seen Mr Walker for just over a week . Wanda seems to be single-parenting both fledglings and is looking pretty exhausted, racing around in this heat all day long.

Wanda on feeding detail

Mr. Walker on July 13, the last time I saw him

I’m hoping that (a) Mr. Walker will reappear and (b) Baby One will manage to fight off the avian pox — but I’m feeling, I have to admit, extremely anxious.

Baby Two going for a stroll, looking for lawn watering refreshment

CROW BRAIN PART TWO

The second thing that has crows flapping around in my head, day and night, is preparing my talk on Crow Watching.

I know, I know, I’ve given talks before and this should be a doddle. Why reinvent the wheel, etc? But every time I revisit the subject I start turning around the “why crows?” question in my mind. New answers, and “better” ways to express them pop up and I feel I have to work them in.

It’s like having to write the dreaded “artist’s statement” — wrestling the jello of thoughts, feelings and doubts about your work; why it’s important; why anyone but you should care — into something vaguely coherent (and less than four hours long!)

I’m at the “incomprehensible spaghetti bowl full of ideas” stage at the moment, but hoping that I’ll have the strands separated by next week.

I see I’m starting to use a lot of food metaphors, which is my brain telling me it’s time to start making dinner.

I’ll say goodbye for now and hope that the crows will come and magically write my presentation for me as I sleep, like the little birds and mice in Cinderella!