This is the season for crows to build nests. Lulu was telling me about the murder she saw near her house on Lake Whatcom - lots of wooded areas their so it is ideal for crows to build their nests.
Same thing is happening South of here near the University of Washington Bothell Campus - from the Everett, WA Daily Herald:
Thousands of crows darken Bothell's sky, attracting scholars
It's turned into more than a must-see murder.
At dusk the sky darkens over the University of Washington Bothell as up to 15,000 pitch-black crows descend on the campus. Swooping and cawing, they come from all directions to roost for the night.
The mammoth mob might seem ominous to a casual onlooker. But it's roused the curiosity of Bothell educators and students. They're working to better understand crows and their connection to humans.
And this great story from the Bothell Campus link:
Marzluff relates the story of a couple in Sweden who also experienced the birds’ facial recognition capabilities. The woman in the couple had fed some magpies, which are closely related birds, in her backyard. “Then she started to notice weird things were happening around her house,” he says. “The doorbell would ring and nobody was there.” She would come out, look around, see the birds, and throw them some food.
“She kept doing that and the birds kept ringing the doorbell and finally one day she saw them,” he says. Her husband did not like the birds hanging around the house so he went outside and pretended to throw something at them to scare them away. “From that day on they started crapping on his car,” says Marzluff. “He had to wash the window of his car every day, only on the driver’s side and only his car, never his wife’s.”
We are planning to leave some shiny treats out for them - they seem to like them. Up here we also get ravens - much larger and distinctly different voices.
Leave a comment