There are other stories that I wrote about Crows and ravens. It would be too much repetition to narrate them again, so, I would only say in a nutshell, the crows and I have a strong connect. I have high respect for the clever bird and its fine figure, though I prefer the darker raven. All this may seem “inauspicious” as it may connect to bad omen for a few readers, but I feel they are underestimated birds.
There are two small incidents, that happened recently that go worth a narration.
I mentioned earlier that a crow is a frequent visitor to my balcony cum gallery. He has been around even at times, when I paint. Tries to fetch my attention by cawing, holding the grill at odd angles , craning its neck and gazing with one eye to make an eye contact. I know that he asks to refill the water that I leave for the birds during summer. This is Mr crow and he lives opposite in a nest on a silver oak tree. Mrs Crow tends to her kids in the nest. This year we saw them build the nest from the scratch, hurriedly and we felt that Missus got pregnant during the affair.
The kids started showing the neck, above the rim of the nest. During the entire last month, one of them grew to full size and started hopping around the branches. Mr and missus wary of any misadventure.
The missus usually does not approach the balcony. She is busy tending to the kids. Mr Crow always drops by, every morning, at tea time. A meter away from me, I try to look away while he fearlessly dips to wet his beak. Ila and I have been keen to see the day, when the older kid leaves the nest.
Mr and missus have been quite protective and watch the nest with a crows eye. There is a squirrel that it chased the day before and a Kite that kept sweeping around the nest, till the crow got aggressive.
The day before Yesterday, during evening tea we watched the nest and Mr and Missus weren’t around. Mr. has a strange head and I can by now recognize his caw. He also has the habit of self grooming, if not groomed by missus. (We have seen the two in a romantic mood for such a long time. Almost like the Rear window movie, where we are the peeping Toms.) This day something strange happened. We had not looked at the nest that morning and had missed out on the feeding of meat shreds that Mr brings home everyday.
Then we noticed Mr and Missus on another Silver Oak tree attempting to salvage a Raven’s nest that got destroyed in a recent storm. We wondered why another nest when they have their own penthouse. But when we looked at the penthouse it was empty. The crows would not go near the place again. Fingers crossed, we hope that at least the older kid may have flown if the Kite attacked. The smaller one was easy meat. This day, Mr and missus both approached our Balcony. Mr tried to get my attention and cawed for a long time. I talked back trying to console and share condolences. Mr Crow then did a strange thing. He approached the silver crested sparrow nest that a couple is trying to build. He tugged at the nest and again stared at us. He then flew away with his missus to the new apartment under construction. Was he communicating the attack to us? They surely were aware, that we watched the entire family, every day. Perhaps, we are to witness another murder, when the crow makes a killing on the sparrows. But then, I feel it was initially dumb of them to build a nest right in front of a crow nest. Its their call and we should leave things to the nature.
The crow visited yesterday and today morning. Few times he would fly to the old nest. Frighten other crows and squirrels. Perhaps, the dead kid remains till the rains lash at the nest again and remove the memory. The routine cawing and I fetch another bowl of water every morning and it seems things got back to normal.
Today evening, a strange thing happened. Our Bedroom Window overlooks a garden and it has a palm tree that reaches around a story below us. Ila mentioned that she saw a crow hanging from the tree and it was alive. It was truly unreachable, 3 stories above the road. Initially, I thought that its time was up. I noticed a manja from a kids paper kite, that was wound around its wings wickedly. I have been watching many stories on FB, where people go to extreme ends to save animals and I felt I should do my bit. If I cut the string, perhaps the crow would fall off. The poor bird was badly mangled and I only hoped it wasn’t our Mr and Missus crow. It did not caw. It was too tired after attempting to free itself and get more entangled in the process. A lot of crows were flying around the society, perhaps trying to spread the news of the goner. A Kite had also approached and was making screeching sounds.
I sharpened the Kitchen knife and attached it with a tape to the 11 ft curtain rod. Neel and Mihika helped me build the contraption. I Made an attempt to reach the string but it was still few feet away. The aluminum pipe was already bending. In another desperate attempt we tried to tape it to another curtain rod and tried to swing it . The new contraption was still short to reach the palm tree. Meanwhile, the sun was near setting. I knew, the bird would be a goner for sure if we left it hanging at night. I thought about the other animal rescuers who put their life in danger. Was I doing enough??Ila went downstairs to clear people away from the drop zone. If I dropped the knife or the curtain rod, it was as good as a spear falling from 4th floor..the bird rescuer could be booked for homicide. 😉
I needed a longer contraption and we managed to remove another curtain rod and tape it to this one. This spear was now almost 24ft long+ the knife. Many heave and gos later, the palm branch started swaying and I think I tried to give it everything I had. An hour of effort and the bird slipped down and surprising flew away. It is a day to celebrate as we saved a life.
I walked back to see if Mr crow and missus were at the nest but alas..they are not around. It may not be my friend but who cares.. A crow was saved. I cannot interfere with nature. Predators will continue to hunt for food. The manja and kite flying is one thing I hate as it causes such accidents.
There are two small incidents, that happened recently that go worth a narration.
I mentioned earlier that a crow is a frequent visitor to my balcony cum gallery. He has been around even at times, when I paint. Tries to fetch my attention by cawing, holding the grill at odd angles , craning its neck and gazing with one eye to make an eye contact. I know that he asks to refill the water that I leave for the birds during summer. This is Mr crow and he lives opposite in a nest on a silver oak tree. Mrs Crow tends to her kids in the nest. This year we saw them build the nest from the scratch, hurriedly and we felt that Missus got pregnant during the affair.
The kids started showing the neck, above the rim of the nest. During the entire last month, one of them grew to full size and started hopping around the branches. Mr and missus wary of any misadventure.
The missus usually does not approach the balcony. She is busy tending to the kids. Mr Crow always drops by, every morning, at tea time. A meter away from me, I try to look away while he fearlessly dips to wet his beak. Ila and I have been keen to see the day, when the older kid leaves the nest.
Mr and missus have been quite protective and watch the nest with a crows eye. There is a squirrel that it chased the day before and a Kite that kept sweeping around the nest, till the crow got aggressive.
The day before Yesterday, during evening tea we watched the nest and Mr and Missus weren’t around. Mr. has a strange head and I can by now recognize his caw. He also has the habit of self grooming, if not groomed by missus. (We have seen the two in a romantic mood for such a long time. Almost like the Rear window movie, where we are the peeping Toms.) This day something strange happened. We had not looked at the nest that morning and had missed out on the feeding of meat shreds that Mr brings home everyday.
Then we noticed Mr and Missus on another Silver Oak tree attempting to salvage a Raven’s nest that got destroyed in a recent storm. We wondered why another nest when they have their own penthouse. But when we looked at the penthouse it was empty. The crows would not go near the place again. Fingers crossed, we hope that at least the older kid may have flown if the Kite attacked. The smaller one was easy meat. This day, Mr and missus both approached our Balcony. Mr tried to get my attention and cawed for a long time. I talked back trying to console and share condolences. Mr Crow then did a strange thing. He approached the silver crested sparrow nest that a couple is trying to build. He tugged at the nest and again stared at us. He then flew away with his missus to the new apartment under construction. Was he communicating the attack to us? They surely were aware, that we watched the entire family, every day. Perhaps, we are to witness another murder, when the crow makes a killing on the sparrows. But then, I feel it was initially dumb of them to build a nest right in front of a crow nest. Its their call and we should leave things to the nature.
The crow visited yesterday and today morning. Few times he would fly to the old nest. Frighten other crows and squirrels. Perhaps, the dead kid remains till the rains lash at the nest again and remove the memory. The routine cawing and I fetch another bowl of water every morning and it seems things got back to normal.
Today evening, a strange thing happened. Our Bedroom Window overlooks a garden and it has a palm tree that reaches around a story below us. Ila mentioned that she saw a crow hanging from the tree and it was alive. It was truly unreachable, 3 stories above the road. Initially, I thought that its time was up. I noticed a manja from a kids paper kite, that was wound around its wings wickedly. I have been watching many stories on FB, where people go to extreme ends to save animals and I felt I should do my bit. If I cut the string, perhaps the crow would fall off. The poor bird was badly mangled and I only hoped it wasn’t our Mr and Missus crow. It did not caw. It was too tired after attempting to free itself and get more entangled in the process. A lot of crows were flying around the society, perhaps trying to spread the news of the goner. A Kite had also approached and was making screeching sounds.
I sharpened the Kitchen knife and attached it with a tape to the 11 ft curtain rod. Neel and Mihika helped me build the contraption. I Made an attempt to reach the string but it was still few feet away. The aluminum pipe was already bending. In another desperate attempt we tried to tape it to another curtain rod and tried to swing it . The new contraption was still short to reach the palm tree. Meanwhile, the sun was near setting. I knew, the bird would be a goner for sure if we left it hanging at night. I thought about the other animal rescuers who put their life in danger. Was I doing enough??Ila went downstairs to clear people away from the drop zone. If I dropped the knife or the curtain rod, it was as good as a spear falling from 4th floor..the bird rescuer could be booked for homicide. 😉
I needed a longer contraption and we managed to remove another curtain rod and tape it to this one. This spear was now almost 24ft long+ the knife. Many heave and gos later, the palm branch started swaying and I think I tried to give it everything I had. An hour of effort and the bird slipped down and surprising flew away. It is a day to celebrate as we saved a life.
I walked back to see if Mr crow and missus were at the nest but alas..they are not around. It may not be my friend but who cares.. A crow was saved. I cannot interfere with nature. Predators will continue to hunt for food. The manja and kite flying is one thing I hate as it causes such accidents.
This was the first life I could save and it seems like celebration time! I did not feel like taking photographs of this event. Too many memories around the black bird!
