Crow Conversations
Marvin and Mavis stopped by for a chat over the garden fence yesterday.
I reliably see them each morning when they stop by for a breakfast snack of peanuts and kibble. They’re usually in an “eat and run” mood at that time day, being hungry and having a full crow-tinterary ahead of them.
Occasionally they stop by for a more leisurely afternoon visit. Yesterday they were in a particularly sociable mood. I almost thought that one day I might get Marvin, the bolder of the pair, to eat from my hand. Not there yet, but Marvin was at least ready to give the matter some serious consideration.
Marvin seemed particularly curious about me yesterday, and prepared to get quite close.
Mavis prefers to keep an eye on proceedings from a bit further away.
Marvin steps a little closer …
Marvin finally got to about a foot away from me and then retreated back in order to do some thinking out loud. You can see his thought process in action in the following video.
NOTE: If you’re reading this in an email, you won’t see the video that comes next.
Click HERE to be taken to the actual blog post, where the video will play beautifully.
I was so pleased to be part of such a close up performance of the lovely crow “rattle” call. I’m not sure if anyone knows for sure what this type of call means, but it really did seem as if it was part of his consideration on the subject of how much I could be trusted. It was combined with some branch pecking. This, I’ve noticed, is done when they’re feeling a bit frustrated or not sure what to do next.
You can see in this close-up how the tongue seems to move about quite a bit when they make the rattle call.
Quite a bit of rattle calling went on in my garden yesterday. I’d never seen such a long session of it up close.
Mavis keeps looking on silently from her branch.
Eventually they both came down from fence and tree and had a little hop around the back yard.
And so we passed a happy hour or two. If you read my earlier blog post, Home Décor for Nature Lovers, in which I reveal a rather laissez-faire attitude to housework, this post might help explain why that is.
After all, who can find time for dusting when there are such brilliant conversationalists hanging out right in the back yard?
