May 21, 2010

Common Birds at the Feeder: American Crow


Crow01, originally uploaded by Rodger Coleman.

We see a lot of American Crows at the suet feeder, but they are extremely skittish birds and therefore hard to photograph. Big, heavy and slow, a crow will usually take off at the first glint of the camera! I got lucky today although the light was poor. The truth is, this crow tolerated my camera out of necessity: it's spring and the birds are not only feeding themselves, but bringing home the bacon to their little ones back at the nest (note this one's beak is jam-packed full of yummy suet). The crows are magnificent birds, with their imposing size, iridescent black feathers, wise eyes and soulful caw. Amazingly, crows will engage Red-tailed hawks in death-defying dogfights to protect their broods. Beautiful, noble birds.

1 comment:

Liz said...

I love our crows! And I've been surprised to see that they seem to spend a lot of their time walking around. Pretty much every time I see them out for a stroll, I think they'd look great in little top hats. Plus they make and use tools and love shiny things. Crows rock!