The circle of trust

One year on and the routine is still the same. Every morning, every day, I arrive at the park more or less at the same time. When I arrive, there's always one that calls all the others. LOUD. A few minutes later, a swarm of crows covers the sky. My babies are here! 

Perfect social distancing! (24/04/2021)

Sometimes we have company, mostly dog walkers and their canine friends... today it was a crazy dog running loose, so I did not offer any treats to the crows until the dog was completely out of sight. They were really good, bless...patiently waiting on the trees.

After I put the treats down for them, I walk a meter or so away from them and if the weather is nice I sit down on the grass and enjoy observing their own little interactions within the murder. There are lower calls in sweet tones, bullies with ruffled feathers, some squabbles and chasing. I had to break a few (serious) fights before - I am ok for them to settle things within the murder but not when there's feathers flying, sorry!

I am officially a member of  the murder - and I say this with some certainty: they accept me, trust me, and tolerate my presence. I am a resource to protect at all costs. When I am in the park, they will keep kites away, gulls away, magpies away... but somehow tolerate a jackdaw or two. Interesting dynamics.

After all the treats are taken away/cached, eaten or stored in their crop, they start approaching me in their own time until I am literally surrounded by them all. They either group together with some perfect social distancing or form a circle around me. Lately they have started doing both. We then play a little bit of a game I call 'catch the peanut' before I head off to my chores and daily responsibilities.

 

When I start walking home, I am followed for a few meters or more (depending on territories and their borders). In fact, now that people are a lot more out and about (restrictions are lifting week by week), I  have also started to be known in the park, people wave and say hi, which is nice. My main goal is to continue to interact with these guys but causing as little disruption as possible - and to be honest, these guys disperse soon after their treat time is over. I have walked past the park after lunch time and no crow in sight other than the usual pair living there.

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Last night the wind was horrible, so I did a longer walk today to check on all the nests I am monitoring - 7 in total. All nests seemed sturdy and with the (crow) parents in attendance. Nothing at the bottom of the trees, thank goodness. My favourite pairs were all ok, and all of them were in their nests. Rhea left the nest briefly to join Cronus at treat time which makes me believe their nestlings are soon to become fledglings. I have no idea how many they had, but I am excited to meet all the babies.