FACILITY DRILL

Blog - 2014 - March

Crows

PDF Date: 6 April 2019

Images & Text © Beryl L Pratt

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Crows

The other day I went to Danson Park inBexleyheath to check out the progress ofthe spring weather on the ornamentalgardens. Unfortunately there were noflowers to photograph, but everythingwas neat and tidy, with the roses prunedand the beds covered in a grass mulch. Ilooked instead for other interestingfeatures, such as the twisted wisteriastems on the brick and beam pergola,and checked up on the lily pond, whichwas now clear of the clogging duckweed.However, the woodland daffodil areafurther along was in full bloom and thesun shining through the trees andilluminating all the yellow trumpets madefor some cheerful photos at last.

I wandered down to the rock and boggarden area at the far end of the park,where there are more trees and asecluded duck pond that flows into thelake. On the approach path, I noticedsome crows digging in a muddy patch,looking for an easy meal. I threw themsome bread, to entice them closer to getsome good photos. The pieces had hardlyhit the ground before more crows startedwheeling in, landing with a bounce andtheir loud caws advertising the situationto all and sundry. I moved over to agrassy area between the trees, a fewyards from the path, where they wouldnot be disturbed by people walking byand where they might feel safer andmore inclined to come nearer. A fewmore morsels sailing through the airattracted the attention of even morecrows, and within a minute or two therewere at least thirty of them spreadaround me in an arc, and increasing allthe time. Although taking photos andmovies was the aim, I found it moreinteresting to watch them "live" thanpeer at them on the camera screen.

They are big, bold and brash, with aswaggering walk and impudent raucouscalls, but there did seem to be aninvisible line that they would not cross, ata certain distance between them and me.It was amusing to see them approachingthis boundary, sometimes stopping

within inches of the bread, and vacillatingbetween lunging forward towards thebread and pulling back without havinggot it. They were too attracted by thefood to retreat and not brave enough toget those few inches nearer. The boldestone would eventually make a daring dashfor the piece and jump back as quickly aspossible, as if on a piece of elastic - butonly just back over the line, so as not tomiss the next opportunity. I thought theymight come closer if I sat down on thebench, but then I could not fling it as far.I tried the ruse of standing, in my dark-coloured clothes, with my back to a treetrunk or some greenery so as not topresent such a tall threateningappearance and I think that if I had donethis from the outset, it might haveworked better.

Whenever the bread disappeared in thegrass, then they seemed to consider thatthe effort of finding it was not worth therisk of missing the next piece. If it wasbigger and more visible, that seemed tobring out more bravery anddetermination. However, it was certainlynot "out of sight, out of mind", as when Istepped back, the whole crowd moved into investigate and clear up, as theywould normally do when visitors leavethe park benches after eating theirsnacks. I wondered whether it was thecrows' different personalities thatinfluenced the risks they were willing totake, or perhaps it was just the hungriestones who made the most efforts. Biggerpieces drew greater courage from them,as the large size of the prize began tooutweigh the danger, although thesuccessful claimant of the big chunk hadthe additional problem of keeping it tohimself. The safest place to deal with themeal was up in a tree, with the lumpfirmly underfoot and devoured crumb bycrumb. Quite a few of the crows hadstationed themselves on the lowerbranches, to get a better view ofproceedings, and when I threw somepieces upwards in their direction, theypaid much more attention and couldoften be lured into following the piece tothe ground.

Crows

There are always one or two crows aboutwhere I live, although they never comeinto the garden, and a fair number in thenearby parks. Some days people'sgenerosity with the bread exceeds thehunger of the ducks and geese, and I amsure the crows do a good job of clearingaway the remains, after everyone hasgone home. I did once see one strugglingwith a hard dry crust and really wanted tosee him drop it in the water nearby sothat he could eat it, but that did nothappen, unfortunately. But if he had, Iam sure he would have been smartenough to remember what to do anothertime, and I think it likely that the otherswould have learned from him as well.Knowing what clever quick learners andopportunists crows are, next time I go tothe park I will be looking into those littleblack eyes and wondering just how muchintelligence is behind them.

When I got home I checked up on thedifferences between crow, rook, ravenand the similar chough and jackdaw. TheBritish Trust for Ornithology website hasan excellent short video which explainsall the differences used for identification,in their appearance, cries and calls,manner of flying and walking, andgeneral behaviour. The narrator has avery clear voice and if you wanted to tryyour hand at some ornithologicaldictation, I give below some of thevocabulary to use in preparation. It ismostly natural talking speed, but youcould try doing several words or phrasesat a time, or perhaps every othersentence. The crows are all behind youand are delighted to help you improveyour shorthand, as well as enable you toidentify them correctly next time you seethem. In any event, you will certainly beable to see the outline for "caw"whenever you hear them. (1044 words)

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