In Defence of Crows

[red750]

9 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

A reply to red750 

Spacey, I think you mean OME.

[spacesailor]

Oops.  My apologies to you both . 

It was ome 's hovel .

 Now, I have to back check who did that,

' grand renovation ' .

It will have to be later as the dishes are calling me, for their wash .

spacesailor

[Litespeed]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

In all fairness Crows can be hard to love.  Geez space. Sometimes I'm having trouble following your line of thought.   Nev

Your not the only one Nev, sometimes it does seem like a different language or planet.

[Litespeed]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

In all fairness Crows can be hard to love.  Geez space. Sometimes I'm having trouble following your line of thought.   Nev

Your not the only one Nev, sometimes it does seem like a different language or planet.

[Litespeed]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

In all fairness Crows can be hard to love.  Geez space. Sometimes I'm having trouble following your line of thought.   Nev

Your not the only one Nev, sometimes it does seem like a different language or planet.

[Litespeed]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

In all fairness Crows can be hard to love.  Geez space. Sometimes I'm having trouble following your line of thought.   Nev

Your not the only one Nev, sometimes it does seem like a different language or planet.

[Litespeed]

Sorry but I guess it was worth repeating.

[willedoo]

Bad stutter there.

[willedoo]

At least you got the message across.

[facthunter]

I hope that's not a reflection on my perception. Nev

[Litespeed]

Some of us need it repeating until it sinks in I guess.

 

Not you though Nev, your not a Space cadet.

[willedoo]

Today the butcher bird was sitting on a tree branch outside the kitchen window and singing away in full song mode. The resident raven was sitting about four feet away from him, quite content watching the butcher bird sing. The mickey birds even got in the act. The raven doesn't seem to mind a mickey bird sitting only two feet away from him.

 

They all get on well together. The only exception would be when there's food involved, the raven and butcher bird compete. Being honeyeaters, there's no food competition from the mickey birds. Their only interest in my place is the bird bath, a place to drink and bathe. Noisy miners normally don't tolerate other birds well, but that's probably when they are defending territory. I think they all see my house and yard area as neutral ground, a bit like a public common. My place is the centrepiece of the raven's territory, but the butcher birds and mickey birds live a bit further down the hill and visit here on a daily basis, often a few times per day.

 

It's interesting seeing how the different regular birds get to know and trust the human. I'm sure the butcher birds and mickey birds can differentiate me from another visiting human on the place. Recently I was down at my shed which is about 100 metres down the hill from the house and fairly central to the noisy miner's territory. I was standing outside the shed beside a tree when I heard a mickey bird commotion. A few of them flew over and landed on a branch right beside me and started calling out loudly. It wasn't usual behaviour and I couldn't figure out why they were so close to me until I looked around and saw the neighbour's cat walking up the driveway. Obviously the miners knew and trusted me enough to see me as a source of protection.

[old man emu]

This is a rant by an angry, tired old bugger.

 

I had a bad night's sleep last night because a catch on my CPAP mask broke and I had to sleep without its helping my breathing. Then at sunrise those bloody crows turned up outside and the chicks started their cawing. I got so mad that I went outside, yelling and waving my arms about. The damned things simply flew up into a tree and after a while started up. I have absolutely no idea why these parent crows have decided to claim my place as their own. 

 

 

[facthunter]

When you control the skies you are ahead.  Nev

[rgmwa]

26 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I have absolutely no idea why these parent crows have decided to claim my place as their own. 

 

 

They've seen the reno in progress and decided to move to a better place?

[willedoo]

50 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I have absolutely no idea why these parent crows have decided to claim my place as their own. 

One possibility - they saw a human move in and thought it might be a good food source, in the hope of picking up some food scraps. If the chicks are there then the nest is probably not too far away. They build a new nest every year so if they see a threat in your area they might move away a little bit further for the next breeding season. The problem with trying to chase them off is getting them to take you seriously. I think they get as amused by our antics as we do by theirs.

[old man emu]

43 minutes ago, willedoo said:

The problem with trying to chase them off is getting them to take you seriously.

It's 6:45 pm and I can hear those chicks still begging for food. Obviously, as ugly as I am, I am no scarecrow. I'm no Worzel Gummidge.

[willedoo]

There's been a racket going on around here the last few nights. It sounds like a gang of curlews.

[red750]

Crow cake.

 

[willedoo]

I better not show that to my feathered mate; he'll expect cake instead of the dog pellets.

[Marty_d]

52 minutes ago, red750 said:

Crow cake.

 

Very nice. Lot of skill there.

[facthunter]

Better than wedding cake.. There's something in it that kills libido in women. Nev

[spacesailor]

It's the  bloodi light .

Must give the wife's headaches. 

turn the light off

spacesailor

 

[red750]

[willedoo]

He needs to trim those nostril hairs.