Our Friend the Crow

Corvids have been given another week to show themselves at Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge. I have no further photos so have resorted to the internet to provide one. Thank you Frank Cone at Pexels.

But I can provide a crow-related story, and one very suited to this challenge for photographers, thanks to a book I have just finished reading

But if they (crows) make fierce enemies, they make even finer allies. A girl in Seattle called Gahi Mann made worldwide news when the crows she had fed every day since she was four years old began to bring her gifts in return: a paper clip, a blue bead, a piece of Lego, a tiny silver heart from a pendant. But even better, her mother Lisa dropped a camera lens cap while out taking photographs in a field. The crows watched nearby. She was almost home before she realised it was lost, but as she came down her garden path, she saw it had been returned to her, balanced precisely on the rim of the bird bath. Camera footage showed a crow arriving with it, walking it on the bird bath, washing it several times over, and laying it out to wait for her return.

Katherine Rundell: The Golden Mole, page 78

This short but perfectly formed book is a hymn to the species which we treasure – or ought to treasure – but may be fast disappearing. From stork to swift to narwhal to hedgehog to seahorse … and fifteen other creatures, Rundell assembles an eclectic mix of fascinating facts to explain why they are special to her, and should be to us. It’s beautifully produced, and evocatively illustrated by Talya Baldwin. Not a natural history book as such, but something that everyone who loves the natural world may want to linger over.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

51 thoughts on “Our Friend the Crow”

    1. I KNEW it wouldn’t be a crow! Shouldn’t have believed the attribution. I do find them difficult. I still think I have to rely on whether they’re alone or almost so (crow) or in a gang (rook).

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  4. Had to look up Corvid – Didn’t know that it’s the crows family name. The kind shown in blog is not one we have here.
    But we have crows and the little story you told is probably very true. I read another story about them ‚punishing‘ the evil neighbour of a good owner who feed them. The evil one shot them after the owner moved away and he got severely punished by the rest of the crow family…. I don0t know if that‘s why a crow crowd is called a Murder! My neighbour fed some 4-6 crows but then complained that smaller birds ‚disappeared‘. We also actively suffered from their very loud cries. This year they didn‘t bother to stay all summer but we still have a few couples of magpies which are screeching in loud exchanges…. But it‘s nature and we are spoilt to still have many birds in our quite urban surrounding.

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    1. Interesting stuff. Yes, I do find magpies harder to love than the rest of the corvids. They somehow come over as entitles and brash. Still, as you say, all part of nature’s rich pattern.

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      1. Crows AND magpies are really LOUD. We live in a rental flat and each house has two entries and 6 flats each. We also have 2 old large trees in front of our house which was an important part for our choice of renting THIS garden flat…. And crows and magpies chase other birds away and disturb the peace of their dwellings. And yes, they are quite aggressive and behave in a ‚demanding‘ fashion. But of course, on the whole, we love all of them.

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  6. Love the story. The the book from which it came sounds marvellous. She’s a talented lady, Katherine Rundell. (I have given up trying to differentiate between rooks and crows beyond whether I see them alone or in groups. Either way, they’re fascinating and probably don’t give a caw for what name we give them.)

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    1. Do see if you can find this book. It’s beautifully presented, and is the kind of thing that coud be enjoyed by any family member, from curious upper primary child onwards. And this rooks and crows debate could run and run …

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  8. There is no denying that birds, and indeed all creatures, get to recognise individual humans and, over time, come to recognise whether they are safe to not take flight, but carry on with their lives when we are around. I always apologise if I disturb any strangers!

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  9. Dear Margaret
    we really love the lens cap story. Hanne-Dina likes the jackdaws. I suppose it’s the same family.
    Thanks and Cheers
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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