Spring 2024 Crow Sagas Part 5

April 21, 2024April 16, 2024 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / Leave a comment

BONGO AND BELLA’S EARLY START

Bongo and Bella seem to be on their own now as Brunhilde, their fledling from 2023, hasn’t been seen for a few weeks now. I think she may have been trying to get Bongo to mate with her, at which point Bella put her clawed foot down and insisted it was time for her to go hang out with crows her own age.

All is proceeding according to plan now, and Bella has been sitting on the nest for about ten days now, making her and Bongo first among this spring’s local crow nesters.

The red-leaved plum trees make good camouflage for early nests. Unfortunately these trees are getting to be rare real estate as, all planted at the same time, most are reaching the end-of-life stage at once and are either falling over or being pre-emptively removed by City crews.

Bongo is on constant guard close to the nest.

He guards in all weather …

He’s started his mating season “boing” calls too.

I tried to get a video of him doing it but, as always, it’s noisy! In this case he’s competing with Geordie’s excitable dog friend, Sally …

Tomorrow: Norman and Nancy’s Nesting Trials

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© junehunterimages, 2024. 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.

Spring 2024 Crow Sagas Part 4

April 20, 2024April 16, 2024 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 1 Comment

THE EARL AND ECHO TEAM EFFORT

Earl an Echo had a busy summer last year. They fledged their youngster a bit later than the other crows and two of them are still with mom and dad.

One of Earl and Echo’s offspring this winter — like dad, this one poses for Dutch Master-like portraits. He or she also makes little sneezing noises, which I’m not sure is a symptom of something or just a foible

Earl collecting nest lining material in early April. You can see here one of his distinguishing features — the frilly upper wing feathers on his right shoulder.

Echo is sitting on the nest early this year, high up in a large cherry tree and having the extra beaks and wings has come in handy already.

The other day we noticed that a squirrel was getting too close to the nest for Echo’s comfort. A high speed chase ensued with dad and the kids pursuing the squirrel up and down every branch until the interloper managed to leap into a neighbouring tree and escape. I believe he or she will think twice before climbing that particular tree again.

Magnificent Earl, identifiable also by his right leg, which bends inward. Also, his always dignified demeanor (except when chasing squirrels)

Echo, recognizable by her blind left eye and constant head motion

Tomorrow: Bongo and Bella: will Bongo bong?

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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.

Spring 2024 Crow Sagas Part 3

April 19, 2024April 16, 2024 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 1 Comment

TENACIOUS BENJAMIN

Sighting of Ben, the crow with a curled back foot, are relatively rare as his territory is slightly out of my usual dog walking route.

Sometimes months go by without a sign of him and I think, oh dear …

And then … there he is again.

We saw him last winter on a walk to New Brighton park. We passed through his territory and he followed us all the way to busy Hastings Street.

At New Brighton Park we found that the outdoor swimming pool, closed to humans for the winter, had been co-opted by bird bathers — gulls, ducks and lots of crows.

There were hundreds of crows in the trees near the pool, and out of the crowd, one landed near us on the fence. Guess who …?

More weeks and months went by with not a trace of Ben, but just last week we saw him on our way back from a Sunday walk to the East Hastings Farmers Market. He was looking in fine form.