This weekend was a good birding weekend in Puyallup. But the most fun had, was watching the Crows.

There has to be a nest near my parents house above the Gravel Pit near Canyon Drive in Puyallup. While sitting out watching the Hummingbirds drinking feverishly from the Butterfly bush, the Crows were busy making all kinds of noise. I pulled up a chair and took out the long lens to watch them mostly.. and intermittently take some photos. There was Jr. and his 4 siblings. A large family with Mom and Pop hanging in nearby trees.

They seemed to be a fine family, hanging out together. Then they all flew off to other nearby trees and several looked as if they were just enjoying having wings. Flying from tree to tree and learning to maneuver in the air with trial and error and looked mostly like children out first day of Summer. All but Jr. Jr. was still branching. Although I saw him almost fly.. and kinda fly.. and almost fall.. It was mostly branching. He worked his way from one tree to a tree 5 trees away... and then back. With all the commotion and crying, Mom or Dad, ( I couldn't tell which one they were both wearing black suits) came next to Jr. As he was crying, parent would preen his neck and his crying was diminished by a few decibels.. but still crying. It was emotional really to watch. The soothing of Parent preening him with the combination of a fear to fly. At one point, I'm pretty sure he flew a short distance to a nearby tree branch.. and probably back.. but mostly contently crying in his favorite spot that he always seemed to manage to get back too, and branching.. always branching.

I have never known a parent to preen with some loving care after a bird had fledged. It reminded me of a family of Monkeys. After a bit of research today, I have learned that siblings will stick around the nest for up to 4 years and help with the rearing of the new fledglings. Well, these 4 kiddos looked the same age, but it made sense after I seen all the young join him nearby for the night. They all seemed to be around Jr. and comfort him.

Next morning, Jr was making racket and I again took my post. Somewhere about 1pm Out of nowhere..... a Coopers Hawk came straight overhead and zoomed right into the trees. WOW! I saw 6 Crows just cry out and fly in all directions. I was like, WOW, did everyone just see that? Then I looked.. Jr? Yep, Jr. was sitting there looking like he had no idea what happened. Before I could count to 10, Momma came flying in.. sat there on the branch, looked at him, and I'm sure said, FLY OR DIE.. and they flew off.. I never saw Jr. the rest of the day.

What an exciting part of Nature to be a part of.

I will eventually link the photos up on my webpage if you are interested, you can message me privately and I will remember to send you a link.


Sammy Catiis
Arlington