Crow stories? Cool.

My favorite (very short story) is one of seeing crows in downtown Seattle at
the Westlake Mall dining on bugs found in the big planters located
decoratively around the mall. This was springtime when the landscapers had
planted flowering plants in all the big urn type planters. The crows had
learned to pull up the young plants and drop them on the pavement below.
Then they would hop down and pick through the dirt to eat the bugs in the
dirt. Quite the mess but the passing throngs paid no attention and the crows
did lots damage to the plantings.

My next favorite story is one of looking up as I passed the front door of
Nordstrom's. There is a big overhang, kind of an awning but more like a
ledge jutting out from the building providing shelter from the rain to the
shoppers about to enter the store. I was looking to see the source of a
noise of some bird in distress and saw a crow flying toward the awning with
a starling gripped firmly in his bill. The starling was flapping a bit but
totally under control of the crow. A gull was following close behind, hoping
to get a share of the feast, no doubt. I lost sight of them but had no doubt
what was going to happen to the starling. I have to admit, one less starling
is kind of like that lawyer joke. What is it when a boat full of lawyers
sinks at sea? A good start!

My apologies to any lawyers reading this.

Kevin M. Hill
3406 W. Government Way, #6
Seattle, WA 98199
?
Home: 206-282-4188
Fax:??? 206-629-7745
Cell:?? ?206-257-8316
Mail to:kevin.hill at oceanmasters.biz

www.oceanmasters.biz
(under construction-up soon)




-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Kelly
Cassidy
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 17:28
To: Tweeters
Subject: [Tweeters] Species of the week: American Crow and American Dipper

[The species of the week are a little late in being posted because my phone
line has been out this weekend. I don't miss the phone, but it's amazing
how much I miss that internet connection, even my painfully slow phone line
connection.]

I considered skipping the crow for the species of the week because so many
crow stories have been posted. Everyone has a crow story. But, then I
realized: Everyone has a crow story and they'd be disappointed if they
didn't have an excuse to tell it. Anyway, who could get tired of reading
about crows, the unofficial Bird of Seattle? (The Audubon Society made some
silly choice like Great Blue Heron, but we all know that crows rule
Seattle.)

So, American Crow it is, with one restriction: First hand stories, only. No
"I heard from a friend..." or "I read..."

The second species of the week is that bird of fast water, the American
Dipper.

.My crow anecdote: Since I left Seattle, I don't see crows as often.
They're aren't many crows in Pullman and none around my house out here in
raven country among the wheat fields. So, my story is from about 9 years
ago in Seattle. I had just gotten a puppy. There were, of course, always
crows in the neighborhood, but they didn't normally hang around my yard. I
had let the new puppy out for one of its gazillion daily puppy potty breaks
when I noticed a crow quietly watching the puppy. Then another crow, then
maybe one or two more.

The puppy was far too large for a crow to attack, so why were they
interested? I think they keyed in on the sometimes-unsteady puppy walk and
were hopeful they had found a sick animal that might soon be carrion. After
a few minutes, the crows left. They ignored the puppy after that.

Dr. Kelly Cassidy
Curator, Conner Vertebrate Museum
Washington State University, Pullman, WA


_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters