I spite of the fact it’s starting to get chilly these days, not all birds fly south for the winter. Even robins. Some migrate, some don’t. And some will come from further north and think our climate is quite balmy. So if you see a robin around it doesn’t mean spring is around the corner. He might be from Labrador and think our weather is quite tropical.
We have a lot of birds that hang around. Blue jays, chickadees, cardinals and, one of my favourites… crows.
I just happened to notice quite a few crows along the side of the 103 today. Not sure why. There didn’t seem to be an abundance of road kill. But they were finding something. They weren’t all in the same area, but were spread out pretty much everywhere. One here, four there, a few more a but further along. So they didn’t just leave their favourite roost and all swoop down to bask in the sun.
That is something they tend to do this time of year. Crows like to gather in fairly large numbers and all roost together. Maybe they huddle up to keep each other warm on cold nights, but it isn’t uncommon to see large groups heading for the same tree in the evening.
They nest fairly early in the year. They start in March and have their young hatched and squawking about the time then weather starts to warm up and we would like to be throwing open out windows at night. That one I know from experience. There were a couple years the crows built a nest in a big pine tree fairly near my bedroom window. Lets just say I had no need of an alarm clock that year.
We also like to feed them. They aren’t big on bird feeders, but they do seem to like dog kibble. On a somewhat regular basis, my wife will toss a handful of kibble on the back lawn and give a whistle. Crows magically appear from out of nowhere and grab a snack. Although tossing dog food to the crows does tend to confuse the dog, who seems to think she owns the stuff.
But the are rather intelligent birds, even if they do make rather noisy neighbours. It’s fun to have them around.
