Progress

Down at a little park near the supermarket the crows were making a lot of fuss, and I went to see what was going on. There I discovered that it is nest building time. I also discovered that the crows have progressed in their techniques. They are not only using plastic-coated wire hangers as building material, they are also using the ones make entirely of plastic. They have also included a peg.

I think they put a couple of the plastic hangers and the peg outside the nest so they would have somewhere to hang their washing.

Whose turn is it to do the dishes?

Crow convention

Last week sometime, Tuesday, I think, there was a huge crow convention held in my neighbourhood. At least fifty crows gathered on the roof of an apartment building down the road, the tallest building around here. When a huge flock of them took to the air and I pointed the camera up, I couldn't get it to focus.

I have never seen so many crows in one place before. Usually they gather in families of four or five, and sometimes seven or eight, but I'd never seen dozens gathering like that. They were very noisy, and I think they were plotting something.

I did get a couple of good shots, but only after most of them had left. In this one the power lines got in the way, but I quite like the effect.


One crow landed on the top of a pole on the building. I don't know what this pole is, but it doesn't look like a comfortable spot for a bird to land, really. That didn't stop the crow, though, who seemed to enjoy being top bird. In this picture you can see its feet wrapped around the pole.


When The Man saw this next photo, he told me I should add more pole coming out the top of the crow. I tried, but it didn't really work. I'm not that good at manipulating photos. I don't have the patience to get it right.

In any case, it already looks like crow-on-a-stick.

Crow by river

What I saw at the river

Today I cycled down to the big river. It has been several months since I went there, and I discovered that all the gulls were gone. I forgot they don't hang around there in the summer. They turn up in autumn, and stay for the winter.

I did not spend as much time there as I'd planned, because while I was cycling along the riverbank I remembered that a friend had moved to somewhere near that area, and maybe he was at home and I could pay him a visit? I texted him, and he answered immediately, saying he'd cycle down to meet me. He brought his dog. I think the dog remembered me, although I hadn't seen her since she wasn't much more than a puppy. She got all excited when she saw me. Or it could just be that I smell good to dogs when I'm all hot and sweaty after a bicycle ride.


We went back to his (very nice) new place for a drink, and after an hour or so I cycled home again along the river. On the way I took some pictures, but not very many.

One picture I took was of a cormorant flying. It was doing its best imitation of a cartoon. I must say the hornbill does it better, but still, that was a pretty good effort. The dangling foot is especially good.


I also saw a lot of crows. They were behaving in the way crows do, flying around and shouting scornfully, except for this one. I think this one is an outcast.


It was quietly fossicking in the grass, looking normal, but when it turned the other way . . .


I saw that it had a mutant white feather.

How odd. I guess that was why the other crows didn't want to hang around with it. Poor, lonely white-feathered crow.

Before I left the riverside I saw the amazing umbrella bird, hanging from a tree.


This is a baby umbrella bird. When it is older it will open, trundle down to the river, and drift out to sea (unless it is captured and sold into slavery beforehand, that is).

I know this because I have seen it before.

The missing keys

On Wednesday down at the little river, a crow was in the water. It was behaving rather oddly.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.


"My keys," said the crow. "They were RIGHT HERE, or at least around here somewhere. I'm SURE of it."


"Oh," I said.

"I will not give up until I find them because I know I am not mistaken," said the crow. "I LEFT THEM RIGHT HERE SOMEWHERE AND DON'T TELL ME TO STOP BECAUSE I KNOW THEY ARE HERE AND IF I LOOK FOR LONG ENOUGH I WILL FIND THEM."

"Oh," I said, again. I didn't know what else to say. The crow sounded almost dangerously obsessive.


"Found them!" said the crow triumphantly.


"That doesn't look like keys to me," I said.


"They're stuck to this leaf," explained the crow.


He took his find over to a nearby rock and put it down.


He gargled.


"Watch very carefully," he said. "I'm going to wash the leaf off, and you will be a witness to the magical moment when my keys appear from underneath."


He picked up the clump carefully.


Then he dipped it in the river.


The leaf was washed away.


"Eh? This isn't my keys!" he said.


"Quite tasty, though," he added.


He went off to resume his hunt for the keys.

"All right, that wasn't them after all," he said. "BUT I KNOW THEY ARE AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE!"


He didn't seem to mind getting into quite deep water.


"I MIGHT have dropped them out here," he said. "I flew over here earlier today."


After a while another crow came along to help.


A gull came and asked them what they were looking for.


"Keys," said the first crow, shortly.

"Oh," said the gull. "I don't suppose you want this, then."

"Well, actually – " said the crow, but it was too late. The gull swallowed.


Another gull came came to see what was going on.

"Aren't you going to help?" asked the crows.


"No," said the gulls. "We'd rather watch."


It looked like it was going to be one of those stories that never end, so I went to work.

Clever

I guess you're wondering why my head bulges like this.


It's because I'm so clever. My brains have grown so big they hardly fit into my skull.


See that bit in front? That's my frontal lobe. The puzzle-solving bit of my brain.


I had to grow a big brain to find food, because people keep hiding it from me.

That means I have to be cleverer than people.

Not that difficult, really.

For example, they probably hid some food under this rock. They thought I'd be too stupid to notice.


They also thought I wouldn't be able to turn over the rock. No opposable thumbs. Pfft! They only think opposable thumbs are important because they've got them.


Ha! Fat lot they know.


All right, so there was no food under that particular rock, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. That's what they want me to do.

I never give up.


I just move onto the next rock.


I can afford to take my time. I'm not so 'intelligent' that I have to sit in an office all day trying to make some stupid boss happy. I can do what I want.

Nobody is my boss.


I can turn over as many rocks as I want to.

And that's good, because they say seafood is good for the brain. I'm fairly sure river food is good, too.


My brain is growing bigger just THINKING about eating this, whatever it is.


Right.

Next rock.


I don't know why they bother to hide the food like this.


I always find it.


I'm not going to share, you know. Turn over your own rocks.


And go away. I'm busy.

Crow