crows nest

White Wing Crow Goes Woof

/ The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 9 Comments

I heard the softest begging sounds of baby crows coming from White Wing’s nest this week — the first of the year! The Wings are always quick out of the nesting gate, and they seem to be in the lead again this spring.

White Wing disappeared as usual in April to go and sit on the nest and has been popping out more frequently over the last couple of weeks since the eggs hatched.

She usually performs a vigorous stretching routine when she emerges, as I imagine it’s getting ever more cramped in there as the nestlings grow.

Ooof — that’s better!

The first time I caught the hint of crow baby gurgles, White Wing was watching me and surprised me with one of her rare “woof” calls …

… followed by another stretch.

The only other time I’ve heard her make the “woof” (with a soulful cat finale on that occasion) was a couple of years ago at about this time of year.
I wonder if it’s a special call to the hatchings — or perhaps she’s making a novel sound  to divert the easily distractible human (squirrel!!!) from the tell-tale little quorking sounds emanating from the nest.

Or perhaps she’s just been whiling away the long hours sitting on the eggs working on some new “songs.”

The Wings are occasionally seen out of the nest together now — only for a brief few moments and then back to feed the hungry beaks …

 

You can see and hear White Wing’s woof-meow call on my YouTube channel HERE >>

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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.

Sounds of Springtime

/ The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 5 Comments

It can be a bit confusing to hear the sounds of fledgling crows begging loudly for food as early as April.

We’re still weeks away from the excitement of the first fledgling appearances — so what’s going on?

You’re hearing the sound of female crows begging food from their mates. They sound just like hungry fledglings and also adopt the classic begging pose — wings out, head lowered.

It’s just another part of the nesting dance. The construction of the nest is probably complete and the female is getting ready to lay eggs, but first she needs to remind her mate that she, just like the helpless fledgling she’s mimicking, is going to be relying on him for food soon.

The Walkers have been displaying this behaviour for a week or so now.

Mr Walker feeding his mate, Wanda

Shortly before laying eggs the female crow loses feathers on a patch of her underside so that her body heat will pass to the eggs without any feathery insulation getting in the way. This is called a brood patch — and only the mother crow has one — so for two to three weeks it’s her job to sit on the nest and incubate the precious eggs, while her mate is responsible for guarding the nest and keeping her fed. If he fails, she will be brooding in more way than one …

Wanda (blind in one eye) in a cherry tree

Wanda is starting to insist that Mr. Walker feed her, even when she’s got a beak full of food already,  just to jog his crow brain into remembering his coming duties.

Mr. Walker, dependable father to be

Here’s a little phone video series of the current daily routine.

Part one: As always, Mr. Walker dashes along beside us. At the moment his route is decorated with drifts of pink snow from fallen cherry blossom petals.

Part two: As usual, Wanda arrives at the peanut destination first (having come via air travel) and gets first dibs on the snacks.

Part three: in spite of having more than her share of peanuts, Wanda insists that Mr. W feeds her some of his. He gallantly obliges.

The Walkers at Home

Let’s hope the Walkers have a successful season. Like many of the local crows, their 2022 nesting efforts went unrewarded, so a couple of new little Walkers this year would be extra nice.

Junior Walkers 2021

Mr Walker, reporting for parental duty

 

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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

Nesting Notes 2023

/ The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 11 Comments

It’s Spring-time in the city.

The plum blossoms have come and gone and the cherry blossoms are out, albeit soaked with rain.

Even more exciting — crow nesting season is in full swing!

Even MORE exciting than that — a pair of crows seem to be building a nest in our big two storey cedar hedge. This would be the first time we’ve had a crow nest this close to the house!!

(Side note: it also happens to be right outside of our bedroom window so check in with me again in about six weeks and see if I’m still this excited.)

It started about ten days ago when we arrived home just in time to see this crow on the neighbour’s chimney …

… take off and do a graceful U-turn directly into our hedge.

At first I thought a hedge is a poor nesting site choice, but having realized how hard it is to actually see it, I’m reconsidering. It’s at least ten feet off the ground so reasonably inaccessible for raccoons, and low for eagle raiding. Let’s hope so anyway, as an eagle plunging into the hedge outside our bedroom would be excessively thrilling for all concerned.

This, taken with a zoom lens from top of the porch steps is the only very partial view you can get of the nest. You can see a flash of pink in there where they’ve used a plum blossom branch for construction. From the outside of the hedge, aside from a few stray twigs, there’s nothing to see here folks … just move along.

For reference — a crow’s nest I found on the ground a few years ago, post-nesting season. You can see it’s made up of a wide variety of materials, mostly twigs, moss and bark, but also human-made items such as packing fluff and zap straps

Over the next few days I watched the soft furnishings going into the hedge nest — mostly collected from a new house being landscaped across the street. Lots of bark and dry grass and even bits of old cardboard were being snapped up by the décor conscious couple.

I’m trying not to investigate the nest too much as I don’t want them to change their mind and build elsewhere. They may have done so already, as I’ve noticed crows often build one or more quite elaborate practice or decoy nests before finally settling on the real deal.

I HAVE noticed one them almost always on a branch or roof within crows-eye-view of the hedge, so fingers crossed.

One of the Hedge Nesters keeping an eye on things from a nearby plum tree

A complicating factor — these two are not Marvin and Mavis, but another pair of crows who have claimed the front part of our house. More on the complicated “house crow” situation in another post.

 

 

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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