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| "I see you, I recognize you, I remember you. I will tell my community about you. Be kind." |
One thing I don't miss about the big city are the cameras pointed everywhere. Add facial recognition software, and we are talking about another level of technological intrusion.
So much for the right to anonymity.
Anonymity plays a key role in safeguarding freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of privacy. It is also not conducive to good mental health to feel constantly surveilled by both Big Brother and Big Business.
Not only can these intelligent birds recognize a face, they can also pass that information on to their whole crow community.
"Kevin J. McGowan, an ornithologist at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology who has trapped and banded crows in upstate New York for 20 years, said he was regularly followed by birds who have benefited from his handouts of peanuts — and harassed by others he has trapped in the past." -MICHELLE NIJHUIS
For the past few years I have been feeding a local family of crows peanuts, but only during the harshest months of the year. We have developed a routine in which we don't see each other all summer and fall, but as soon as the weather gets cold, they come back.
They are coming back now, affirming that another cycle around the sun is descending into cold and darkness. I meet it with equal parts of dread and excitement.
Now that we have had our first snowfall (it's gone already), the crows are doing the slow fly by, looking in our windows. They are looking for me and my bucket of nuts.
I am happy to see them back. The crows and I will ride out the winter together. They will teach me about their "fiery mixture of intelligence, tenacity, and spirit", and me and my face will feed them.
People have assumed animals lack intelligence because they do not speak English. How wrong they are.
ReplyDeleteWe are delighting in all sorts of native birds coming to our back garden to the bird feeder we built to help them through the drought. In the front garden we now have a regular kookaburra coming to catch the cicadas for it's breakfast. It is such a treat to see these beautiful creatures up close and helps us see something positive coming from the drought.
Madeleine
I remember a time when we thought, for some strange reason, that other animals did not feel pain. Or have emotions. Or weren't intelligent. I guess some still feel this way.
Delete"How wrong they are." I agree.
All of those outdated ideas were to justify our poor treatment of all kinds of animals. I remember a fisherman (because it WAS a man) that told me not to worry about struggling fish on the end of my line.
"They don't feel pain", he exclaimed.
I suppose they don't like freedom either, and they struggle after being caught just to please those that like catching them. I would like to say that I do not fish anymore, and would only do so again if there were no other alternative.
But I know how to grow beans, so there will always be an alternative.
Kookaburra sounds very exotic to this Canadian. Enjoy them!
I have read about this fascinating trait of crows. I just love it!
ReplyDeleteCrows and all corvids are very intelligent. They can also delay gratification, another sign of intelligence. If a crow is given a treat, it will not eat it if it knows a better treat is coming later.
DeleteSome humans can't do that.
We have a small cabin in a dead end valley in the mountains. When we're there, my husband catches mice (inside the cabin)at night and leaves them out in the yard for the crows in the morning. They are usually nowhere to be seen, but within minutes we hear them in the distance talking to each other. They circle around a few times until one brave soul decides to land on the knoll, but not too close to the dead mouse in case it's a set up. Then the brave crow will fly off into a tree, watch for a few minutes and finally swoop down grabbing the mouse without landing and off he/she goes with it. Now that I've read the above info about the Cornell ornithologist I'll be buying peanuts for them. As always, wonderful, wonderful positive and inspiring post Gregg! You're a bright and shining light in these painful times. Deva
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Deva. I often wonder about inundating readers with the general negativity concerning the state of things. If, while fighting for something better, we forget to live NOW, we are making a mistake. As bad as things get, there is always beauty right where we are, this very moment.
DeleteWhen feeding birds peanuts, we always buy NO SALT nuts, which are better for them. We like to watch the crows as they go from peanut to peanut, picking each one up and dropping it if it does not feel as heavy as the previous ones. Then it is amusing to watch as they fit 2 or three whole shells into their mouth, and fly away to dine or store for later.
Even after a few seasons of feeding them, they still come in very cautiously. I don't blame them as they have been vilified for years. Ravens, a close cousin, were rendered locally extinct here because humans had a problem with them. Why? It baffles me.
The ravens are making a come back in recent years, something I am very happy about. It is always magical to hear their throaty call when I am out in their territory.
I never knew that about crows. I shall watch the ones with a bit more interest that visit me from now on
ReplyDeleteCrows, and all corvids, are so fun to watch. They know how to live among us, sometimes taking advantage of our disgusting habits, like throwing perfectly good food into the street when we don't want it. They aren't as wasteful as we are, and are happy to clean up after us.
DeleteI call them janitor birds, along with the gulls.
I, like Cherie, never knew this about crows, either. Someone told me a while back, that you'll never see a dead crow along the road, that had been hit by a car. Don't know if it's true or not, but I never have seen a dead one along the road. Hawks must not be so lucky.
ReplyDeleteI have seen several flattened mammals along the side of the road on my bike ride into town. But never a crow. Hmmm. Too attentive?
DeleteDon't let the local farmers catch you. Do you remember the crows in Song of the south? So racist.
ReplyDeleteI honestly wonder what the farmers have against crows and ravens. Is it just that they are black?
DeleteOr are the birds secretly plotting against them? If so, I want to join them.
The birds, that is. I am on their side.
Wonderful story - thank you! I too feed my local birds (including Crows) and especially keep my hummingbird feeder full and ready. -- Mary
ReplyDeleteYou had me at Crow!! I love crows and other corvids. They have been my constant and steadfast companions since I moved here. They know my voice and would allow me to get within inches of them when I used to walk out to the mailbox. I too give them peanuts and I love to hear them chatter to each other from my rooftop. For some reason they like to take stones up on our roof and roll them to the bottom, over and over. Not always appreciated by me at daybreak. For a few years we had a juvenile who would cry and fuss at his family all day. We dubbed him cry-baby crow. It brought such joy to our lives when we heard him out in the yard. He (or she) must be all grown up now and bringing it own young back to this area.
ReplyDelete