Spring 2024 Crow Sagas — Part 1

April 17, 2024April 16, 2024 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 6 Comments

I’m in England now (fingers crossed!) — but before I left I felt I had to write a little catch-up on all of the local crow news. There’s so much to write about, I’ve divided them up into the stories of each crow family I follow, to appear over the next few days.

I notice that I’ve most often written about ravens lately, while it’s crows that mostly make up the fabric of my days.

So why do most of the recent blog posts tend to be raven-themed? Well, ravens are magnificent of course, which is reason enough. Also, as the snow melts, getting up to the mountains to see them will be harder, making them a bit of a seasonal delight.

But it’s also because we usually see ravens on a limited few hours on a trip to the mountains so they naturally make a nice little self-contained story. I don’t really know the minutiae and plot twists of their daily lives.

Crows, on the other hand, form complex sagas that consume my daily life!

The Crow Chronicles seethe with mystery, comedy and tragedy. Each and every day I gather more observations to write about, parse and puzzle over; ending up with a churning ocean of information. How to pull all the plot lines together??? No wonder George R. R. Martin never got to that last chapter of Songs of Ice and Fire!!

My literary problems are as nothing compared to Mr. Martin’s — but it IS always easier to put off writing the epic crow post in favour of a more simple tale of a day out seeing (or not seeing) ravens.

So, before I left, so that the stories don’t exist solely in my own head, I resolved to write the latest chapters in The Crow Sagas.

There may be more spelling/grammar mistakes than usual — no time for editing!!

To start with, the saddest tale.

A REQUIEM FOR WHITE WING

The Wings, in happier days

I’m almost certain that White Wing, one of the crows I’ve known the longest has flown to the great joyful Crow Roost in the sky.

White Wing on October 15, 2023

Last fall, she never seemed to recover from the moulting season and I saw her being attacked by a large group of the rowdy, roaming summer’s end crows. I managed to shoo them off that time, but clearly White Wing was not doing well. I would seek her out, trying to find her without the other crows around, to slip her a few quiet peanuts. Mr Wing was usually nearby her, but he had his own problems with the loss of sight in one eye that came on last summer.

Mr Wing during moulting season, 2023

All winter, White Wing’s signature white feather never quite grew in fully.

The last day I saw White Wing, January 9, 2024

The last time I saw her the feather was just starting to grow in again and I hoped she’d make it to spring, but that day in January was just before the killing cold snap that hit us mid-month. That seemed to be the end for her. I don’t think her incompletely grown-back feathers could keep her warm enough as, even before it got super-cold, I’d see her trying to keep warm on top of chimneys. I haven’t seen any sign of her since the nights hit lows of -20.

White Wing and a fledgling from summer 2023

The Wings were some of the most successful of the local crow parents, year after year, so it’s some consolation to know that there are a lot of little Wing genes flapping around out there — although I’ve yet to see another local bird with White Wings errant white feather.

I’m unsure what happened to Mr. Wing.

Tomorrow: Better News about another crow family!

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Some Wing Things

July 4, 2023July 3, 2023 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 7 Comments

A few news snippets from the Wings.

1 — Feather Gone!

White Wing shed her distinctive white feather again on June 21 — the day I took the photo of her (above) against the blue sky. The next day she was sans feather, looking just like your run-of-the-roost crow.

But, as always, she’s quickly growing a new one.

June 25, just four days after losing the white feather

Yesterday — just under two weeks of growth

2 — Mr. Wing

I recently thought that White Wing might be carrying on with Mr. Walker when I saw what looked like the two of them getting very cosy together. Scandal in the local crow world!

A Wing-Walker dalliance did seem especially unlikely with both families in the midst of nesting season. Turns out it’s something almost as crazy — Mr. Wing has damaged his eye too — the same eye as Mr. Walker.

It’s pretty confusing as both the Mr. W’s have similarly shaped beaks and are next door neighbours to the Walkers. Currently Mr. Wing has some fluffed-up chest feathers (possibly from skirmishing with other crows) which makes ID a little easier.

3 — Parenting

I’ve been hearing Wing babies since late May, but didn’t see them for the first month . I’m not sure how many they started out with, but now I regularly see them with one lively youngster.

I’m fairly certain that this duo, seen in early June enjoying the aquatic facilities provided by a thoughtful neighbour, were little Wings. I didn’t see the parents with them, so couldn’t be positive.

It’s always hard to do a definitive fledgling roll call at this time of year. The first of the summer babies (like the Wings’ and Bongo and Bella’s) are at the “teenage” phase; relatively adept flyers, often off exploring the neighbourhood. They aren’t very cooperative about staying in one place for head counts!

That being said, I’ve only seen the Wings in the company of just one fledgling in recent weeks.

One damp, blue-eyed Wing fledgling, June 10

Same day, same fledgling — now on the move!

Fluffy Baby Wing, June 20

Baby Wing, July 1

Now that Junior is getting older, the parents try to encourage self feeding, but every once in a while doting dad Mr. Wing relents. Even a teenager needs some spoiling every once in a while.

So that’s the news from Wing World for now.

White Wing leaves you with the message, conveyed via crow semaphore.

White Wing Crow Goes Woof

May 21, 2023May 21, 2023 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 10 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.

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.”