Crow!

[Flobo]

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Thought you might like to meet one member of 'my' crow army that I seem to of been accumulating everywhere I walk!
This is one of a pair I feed in a little cemetery where I sit with one of my dogs for our break. It was pouring with rain as you can see! I love the way they sit in the rain, he was waiting for my dog to finish sniffing so he could get his breakfast

 

[JoanneF]

I love crows, they are so intelligent. I have a small group (a murder?) that I feed too, they wait for me then follow me on our walk.

600 years ago they'd probably have burned me at the stake

 

[Tinytom]

I too have crows and jackdaws that come into the garden ...sometimes there are 15 corvids eating alongside sparrows , starlings and pigeons much to my neighbours disgust ....
I also have at least 20 herring gulls that I feed each morning as we bought up one fledgling 10 yrs ago and they all come back ....
Cost me a small fortune in feed a week ....when I buy those chubb rolls for the gulls I always feel the need to explain they aren't for my dogs they are to feed the gulls
Nice to know I am not alone

 

[Tinytom]

@Flobo the crows here are huge and remind me of old fashioned school masters in their black gowns...

 

[JudyN]

I love corvids. Where we were staying last week there were a lot of rooks and jackdaws (and squirrels that would climb your legs... and rats...).

There was some interesting jackdaw behaviour - two of them were close together and one was bowing down seemingly pressing its head into the other one. They did this for ages, I assume it's a courtship/bonding ritual. Has any one seen that before?

 

[excuseme]

We feed loads of rooks in our back garden and a few Jackdaws. They wait in the trees for their daily feast of mixed corn and for afters some very un-healthy bread , left over from a bakery. Only a few are seen to start with but making a lot of noise, after the corn has been placed in their feeders they just appear from the trees like a scene from Alfred Hitchcocks, "The Birds". The rookery is close to our house, we watch them from the start of making their nests and while they brood their eggs and feed their babies. There are other rookeries close by, they all communicate and join in with the daily feeding frenzy. It's better than watching the TV and it's free.

 

[Flobo]

Hooray! Lovely to hear there are fellow corvid people!

600 years ago they'd probably have burned me at the stake

Looks like that would of been all of us!!

I was sat up the hill once with a pair of my dogs and about a dozen or so crows just hanging out with us, some fella walked past and said ' oh my god that is so Game of Thrones!' never seen it myself but got the gist I think!

remind me of old fashioned school masters in their black gowns...

When they sit in the rain, hunched and with the wings hanging, it does look like a cloak for sure. Love them!

I have to say though it's not just the corvids who recognize people, the great tits and blue tits in the cemetery also clock me coming in and follow me round to the feeding spot. I had one the other day, after I'd put the food out, come and sit on a branch right in front of me and started 'shouting' directly at me, I asked what was up and thought ah it must be about his food, as you do(I stick some in a coconut shell in a tree for the little birds), so I went and checked and sure enough there was a rat up there feasting! I shooed it off and the tit happily went back to his breakfast! The rats do get plenty too btw, I am not actually rattist!!

 

[excuseme]

Umm rattist! almost a naughty word !!

 

[JudyN]

I'm a big fan of rats - took this at a tiny nature reserve/lake in the middle of a nearby industrial estate...

 

[excuseme]

@Flobo I must say that your picture in your first post looks much more like a rook than a crow. Rooks do tend to fly and gather in large flocks and they are much more friendly than the crows. Adults tend to have longer bills and grey close to their face, they have baggy knickers/trousers and look a look more tatty than the very sharply dressed crow that has a very black and slightly shorter bill with no grey close to the face. Crows tend to be in couples but non breeding flocks can be seen.
Baby rooks have all black bills too.
A tricky one here.

 

[Flobo]

Hmm, interesting... His stance was slightly different in that pic to how he usually looks, which is beautifully smart. These two I feed in the cemetery are definitely a bonded pair because last year they were bringing their young one down with them, they only started chasing him off when they started nesting this year. They are the only two there, in the area around the cemetery there is a handful that hang out together, a non breeding group presumably then?

 

[RGC]

@Flobo the crows here are huge and remind me of old fashioned school masters in their black gowns...

….or nuns. Without inspiring fear!

 

[Flobo]

This last week I've seen two young crows with the pair at the cemetery, super lovely! All looking fit and healthy, one has been brave enough to come and feed with the others. If you look( you may have to zoom in) in the pic you can see the parents with the young one just at the back. The church is 13th century and is quite lovely too!

 

[excuseme]

Looks like a "spooky" scene!

 

[Flobo]

Maybe I spend too much time in the cemetery, I thought it looked beautiful!

 

[JoanneF]

I too like cemeteries and graveyards.

Headstones are great for close up photography.

BTW, pub quiz fun fact - do you know the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard?

Spoiler: Answer

If it's at a church, it's a graveyard. Otherwise, it's a cemetery.

 

[excuseme]

Hmm. A beautiful quiet scene yes I agree, but aren't the picnic tables a bit too close together

 

[Flobo]

@JoanneF I didn't know that about the names, so graveyard it is!