Flowers on a Sunday Morning

Like clockwork, it was another Sunday morning where the crows were gathered in the same general area for an extended conversation.  It's gotten so regular that I've decided to make Sunday morning at 9:30 am crow time, and be prepared with a recorder, some paper, a pen, and camera.  

When I pulled back the blinds I saw two crows strolling down the street.  A third one chose not to go and had its head and back facing me. I could see the wind turning up its feathers.  I got the impression that this crow was not a fan of the mighty winds that were blowing.

Before leaving, it tried to pluck a flower.  There's something about this little tree.  This is the third time I have witnessed a crow trying to pluck a flower from this tree, but they never can do it.

The crows concentrate on the bottom branch on the left side that hangs down very low. The crow stood next to the tree and tried get a flower from the branch that was near to the ground.  Once I saw two crows trying to pluck flowers from that same tree.  One stood on the ground next to it and concentrated on a flower near the ground.  Another one perched on the same branch but higher up and tried to pluck a flower. 

I've never in my life seen a crow try to pluck a flower before I came to this area.  Why do these crows want the flowers from this tree?  Do they actually eat them?  I've never heard of that before.  This warrants an  investigation.

The Chat

The other day I had the most satisfying experience that I've had with the crows since I got here.  They were on the grass all in the same general area.  Then they took to the trees, which might have been because of my presence, but some of them chose trees that were close to me.    In the trees, they were talking back and forth.  The conversations were most interesting.  One bird would start cawing.  Right after that bird got just one caw out, another one would start.  They would caw over each other, but only after each bird got out one single caw.

One bird was in a tree with low branches.  It was quite close to me.  Another one joined it.  The two of them faced each other and began to have a conversation...facing each other and chatting like girlfriends. One talked and the other one answered.  The conversation was very short- just seconds.  Still, seeing that fascinated me.  Then as I left, a crow on a wire above me was cawing.  It's head was turned, facing Southwest which is were the trees were, (although it was looking somewhat downward and not up where the leaves of the trees were).  But  most crows usually just look ahead when they caw.  Not this one...Southwest...did it want to look toward the general directions of the birds when it cawed?  Was this on purpose?

Yapping on a Sunday Morning

           The crows in Grand Forks, North Dakota are like no crows that I have ever experienced.  Here in Grand Forks, they are much more vocal.  Conversations are common and lengthy.  This morning while walking I witnessed the second of two morning conversations, the first occurring earlier when I was home.  Vocals were short, high-pitched  AHs that sounded like the yappings of chihuahuas.
           Today I heard screams in the sky.   They were hawk screams.  It wasn't being chased or bothered by any crows, it was just screaming while it flew.  This reminds of of the fact that I have wondered why crows don't gang up on the hawks up here and send them packing out of the area like the do in Schenectady, New York.  It's really interesting to see, although I feel bad for the hawks.  In Schenectady, lone crows have taken on hawks and have chased them...still, here in Grand Forks, the hawks may scream while flying, but the crows are definitely the dominant ones!
            

The Gabbin' Continues

          A little while ago I went to take out the garbage.  I seemed to come across a continuation of the conversation.  There were 2 crows on the ground, but the vocals seemed to be coming from the trees.  Again, there was a crow talking in a high pitched voice and another crow talking in a lower pitched voice.  The second crow seemed to be answering the first one.  
          From what I can tell, crows don't seem to have distinctive voices, except in the case of younger crows and adults.  I do wonder why one was high pictched and the other crow spoke in a lower pitched voice.  I know that differences in volume mean something.  I do believe that differences in pitch and differences in intensity may mean certain things as well. Is there a hiearchy among the crows?  I don't know.  Does the difference in pitch come into play?  I don't know.  Crows are family birds.  I have never read about hiearchy in crows.  But is there a social hiearchy within a family of crows? What does this difference in pitch mean?  It's going to be an interesting summer!

Update on 06/23/14:  I found out that crows do have distinctive voices.  Perhaps the difference in voices had nothing to do with social status.  There is so much that I have to learn!  All I know is that crows are fascinating and their language is complex!

Gabbin' on a Sunday Morning.

          This morning I heard a conversation outside.  My knowledge of this morning is completely by sound, as the shades were closed and I was on the computer.  It sounded like two crows calling back and forth to each other.  The first one expressed a series of AHs.  The second one answered back.  The first one talked in a high pitch- possibly the highest pitch I've ever heard from a crow.    At least one time when a crow answered back, the AHs changed.  The first AH was higher followed by at least one lower pitched AH, possibly more. There appeared to be a few calling and answering sessions.  The conversation seems to be continuing but much further away now.

Summer

          In Grand Forks we seem to go from winter to fall, back to winter, to summer...at least that it seems like.  No matter what the date is, it seems like, at least for now, that we are in the middle of summer.  Gone are long spans of quiet days and now the crows seem to be in full swing.  There are a variety of vocals being expressed now- some sound more demanding than others.

          The other day I saw a crow fly by.  I heard AH-AH.  The second AH had a different pitch than the first AH and it was slightly more elongated. I heard this vocal event twice.

          One day from the bathroom window, I could hear some kind of uproar outside.  It was like nothing I had ever remember hearing, not even when the crows surrounded some poor trouble making hawk on a college campus in Schenectady, New York.

          Crows call while flying, something which I have only witnessed in some birds:  common swifts, common nighthawks, and killdeers are birds that come to mind.  Crows also call when perched.  Their many calls seem to have a purpose...much more than "get away from my nest," or trying to attract a mate...which I don't know is even true for them.  Speaking of mates, the other day I saw some interesting movements and wondered if I was watching mating rituals.  There were two crows involved and flying took place over a very small area among the trees.  At least one of the crows would fly down from a tree towards the ground and then fly back up in a sweeping motion.  After watching it some times, the movements seem to have a purpose, at least to me.  More observations are needed!

Spring

          It's been a long, rough winter.  It's early April, and yet snow is everywhere.  The crows had been so quiet these past months.  I remember one very cold day this winter seeing two crows standing in the snow, one right behind the other.  They were silent.  I can't imagine what it must have been like for them to experience this extremely cold winter.  I believe on that day the wind chill factor was 42 degrees below 0.  I saw them while I was getting in a cab to go to school.
          Some weeks ago, they became quite vocal again, although they haven't nearly reached their full noise potential yet.  The other day I saw two crows in a parking lot between two parked cars next to something that appeared to be a bag from a fast food restaurant.  One of them was dragging the bag with it's mouth even though a puddle of water was right there.  The drags were short efforts, not one long drag.  After I passed the car that impeded my vision from them as I was walking, I saw that they had been successful with the bag. They had come out between the two parked cars and the bag was with them.  One of them used it's beak to turn the bag upside down and food came out. One of them picked up some kind of nugget with its mouth. It was really something to watch, as crows are so intelligent.
          Although it was a nice experience, I still feel somewhat disconnected to them.  Back in Schenectady, New York, I felt like I was "right with them."  But these crows are different.  I feel no connection to them and I don't know why.  Maybe it's the environment I'm in.  It's much easier to feel connected with animals when you are in a park or a college campus that is stretched out.  This campus isn't, too open, at least in the areas I usually see the crows.  There are houses and buildings all around and I don't feel my heart opening up.  Is it me?  Or, are these crows just so different?  I will tell you though, these crows have guts!   I know crows can be bold, but one crow was perched on a sign and someone walked right by.  That person was very, very close and that crow showed no fear...did not flinch...did not fly away.  I think that other birds would have just naturally flown away.  But I think it takes more for a crow to be scared.  Still, the person was soooo close.  I'm guessing that this is a wonderful sign, that they crows have not been persecuted or bothered in this area.  I'm happy for them.