My Crow Buddies

I have come to respect crows, as I do all animals, and want to share this true story with you. 

Several years ago I saw a crow walking on the ground in my backyard and as I watched him I saw a neighbor's cat creeping along the shadows of some bushes towards the crow. Knowing what the cat was about to do, I ran outside so that the crow would fly away. But to my surprise he couldn't fly, and I could see his wing was injured. I put the crow in a cat carrier and took him to Project Wildlife where they repaired his wing. Project Wildlife will return wild animals to the yard they were found in, so this crow was returned to my yard and to his family, who were waiting for him. I still see him years after this event and he is still living and thriving in my yard. His left wing hangs down lower than the right, due to the original injury, and that is how I recognized him. But this is just the beginning of the story.

The year following his injury, as I walked through my yard, I saw another crow walking on the ground and as I walked by he didn't fly away as crows usually do. I assumed he was another injured crow who needed help. I got out one of my animal carriers and walked over to where the crow was hiding amongst some bushes. I picked him up and put him in the carrier. I placed the carrier on my patio in the shade  and went in the house to call Project Wildlife to tell them I would be bringing in an injured crow. This took about 15-20 minutes.

When I came back out to my patio to check on the crow, the trees surrounding my patio were full of crows, at least 20 to 30 of them, and as soon as they saw me they started squawking at me intensely. They were definitely trying to tell me something, but as I don't speak their language it took me a little while to realize they were trying to tell me something. I quickly went inside to my computer and googled birds and crows. I found that sometimes the crow isn't injured, he is simply a young crow learning to fly who had not gotten the hang of it yet. By the way, this is true for any young bird. 

I went back to the crow in the carrier and checked for injuries, which really got this pack of family members even more upset. I didn't find any injury. (The crow from the year earlier had a different, and noticeable, injury to his left side and wing).

I decided to put the crow high up in a tree where a cluster of branches made a kind of bed, so that he would be safe. As soon as I did that the mother and father flew up to check on, and console, their chick. Amazingly, the other 20 or 30 crows flew off, apparently knowing that the young crow was safe. Over the next few days one of the parent crows was always with their young bird, and I could see them bring him food regularly.

Then one morning they were gone from their perch in the tree, but they still came back to my yard regularly. And they saw me also, scolding me every morning as I walked outside to remind me that they can take care of their own young. Since then they seem to understand I respect them and would not harm them, and they no longer scold me, but they still squawk at me, perhaps just saying "Good Morning" in crow.