I Love Crows

[RED-DOG]

I love all birds, but I have an especially soft spot for the crow family. They're just such intelligent, belligerent, determined  little rascals, I can't help but admire them.

They fight, they argue, and they steal like mad, but they are so industrious, willing and able to exploit any situation.

Who are the last to fly to safety as your car approaches the road kill?

Who, rather than wait for someone to drop a crumb outside MacDonald's, will actually climb into the litter bin and open the discarded packaging themselves?

Who will steal a shiny object and hide it away just to look at, even though it has no practical purpose?

Who will land on my caravan roof at 6am, dance around until I run outside waving my fist, and then fly off cackling gleefully?

The Crows.

Rooks, Ravens, Magpies, Jays.... Natures miscreants, vagabonds, cut-purses and comedians. May their mischief sustain them for ever.




All the other birds wait for my horses to shed their coat, then they collect it and use line their nests. These Jackdaws just go right to the source and help themselves.

[tikay]

Lovely Post Tom. How do I tell the difference between a Rook & a Crow? And do Crows have the same bizarre nest-building habits & habitats as Crows?

Since you pointed out that Rookery by the M1 just south of Newport Pagnell, I have seen hundreds - literally - of such Rookery's across the country. I don't ever recall seeing them so plentiful in previous years, is the Rook/Crow population growing?

The Politician, racist, extraordinarily talented author, Veteran Car enthusiast, Diaryist & toff, Alan Clark lived in a rather splendid 14th Century Castle in Kent - Saltwood Castle - with quite a menagarie, including his Jack Russell Terrier - "Tom" - and two "wild" Jackdaws, who were tame "pets". They had no cage, they just vistited him every day in his study, & pinched all his pens & pencils!  When they passed away, he buried them in a proper grave & everything.

There is the most moving entry in his Diary one day of how he sort of accidentally shot & killed a Heron, after which he burst into tears.  He was a massive animal rights campaigner, & even rebuffed Margaret Thatcher over seal-culling in Canada.

He was a womaniser & cheated on his lovely wife countless times, but regretted it in later life. A real enigma of a man. He died a gruesomely agonising & slow death from a brain tumour. His collected Diries are perhaps the best semi-political & social Diaries ever written, & are well worth reading. They cover everything from his time as Defence Mnister, Cabinet Meetings with Margaret Thatcher, to his daily ablutions. I jest not. Read them & gape.

I'm rambling. Sorry.

[Karabiner]

Damn crows occasionally swoop down and pinch golf balls in front of the 4th green where I play in Nottingham. It happened to me once and I could hardly believe it. I've never liked them since, but I must admit a grudging respect.
It was a new ball too 

Thinking about it, it may have just been one crow who's party trick this was as there was quite a spate of this happening a few years ago but no recent occurrances that I know of. I bet there's a crow's nest somewhere in Wollaton Park with a couple of dozen golf balls in it. I wondered at the time if maybe the crows thought that the golf balls were eggs.

I don't actually think it's covered in the rules of golf, but I gave myself a "free drop" without any penalty

[RED-DOG]

There's two types of crow, carrion and hooded. They mate for life, and unlike the rook they build a solitary nest.

You can usually recognise a crow in the air because they have a slow rhythmic wing beat, and they tend to fly in straight lines, hence the expression "As the crow flies"

[tikay]

Whilst driving through the back lanes of the New Forest at 3am one morning last week I saw my first ever "live, up close" Brown Owl, sitting in the middle of the road, just staring at me in my oncoming car. He was huge, & achingly beautiful.

Imagine my despair when he failed to move, & my car hit him & killed him outright. I was devestated for days.

[KingPoker]

Whilst driving through the back lanes of the New Forest at 3am one morning last week I saw my first ever "live, up close" Brown Owl, sitting in the middle of the road, just staring at me in my oncoming car. He was huge, & achingly beautiful.

Imagine my despair when he failed to move, & my car hit him & killed him outright. I was devestated for days.

No way, i kill crows all the time but love owls. We used to have one in the hay barn next to our house and would hear him hooting most nights. I can never understand why they use owl hoots in horror movies as to me a hoot is a really soothing sound.

[tikay]

Whilst driving through the back lanes of the New Forest at 3am one morning last week I saw my first ever "live, up close" Brown Owl, sitting in the middle of the road, just staring at me in my oncoming car. He was huge, & achingly beautiful.

Imagine my despair when he failed to move, & my car hit him & killed him outright. I was devestated for days.

No way, i kill crows all the time but love owls. We used to have one in the hay barn next to our house and would hear him hooting most nights. I can never understand why they use owl hoots in horror movies as to me a hoot is a really soothing sound.

Why on earth do you kill crows?

[KingPoker]

Because they have an awful reputation round young lambs and dying sheep of pecking their eyes out.

I suppose it is a huge exaggeration to say i kill them all the time but if we're out shooting and there are no rabbits around, we look for crows.

And personally i would much rather see some bird of prey like a red kite.

Dont see the fascination in crows, rooks and ravens yes because they are much more intelligent and bigger.

[tikay]

Because they have an awful reputation round young lambs and dying sheep of pecking their eyes out.

I suppose it is a huge exaggeration to say i kill them all the time but if we're out shooting and there are no rabbits around, we look for crows.

And personally i would much rather see some bird of prey like a red kite.

Dont see the fascination in crows, rooks and ravens yes because they are much more intelligent and bigger.

Do you not feel bad or remorseful when you shoot a bird? Or a rabbit?

[AndrewT]

Whilst driving through the back lanes of the New Forest at 3am one morning last week I saw my first ever "live, up close" Brown Owl, sitting in the middle of the road, just staring at me in my oncoming car. He was huge, & achingly beautiful.

Imagine my despair when he failed to move, & my car hit him & killed him outright. I was devestated for days.

"I recognise him - he's that guy who's always on the TV"

[tikay]

Whilst driving through the back lanes of the New Forest at 3am one morning last week I saw my first ever "live, up close" Brown Owl, sitting in the middle of the road, just staring at me in my oncoming car. He was huge, & achingly beautiful.

Imagine my despair when he failed to move, & my car hit him & killed him outright. I was devestated for days.

"I recognise him - he's that guy who's always on the TV"

Sadly, instead of star-struck, he was car-struck.

[RED-DOG]

Groan...

[KingPoker]

Because they have an awful reputation round young lambs and dying sheep of pecking their eyes out.

I suppose it is a huge exaggeration to say i kill them all the time but if we're out shooting and there are no rabbits around, we look for crows.

And personally i would much rather see some bird of prey like a red kite.

Dont see the fascination in crows, rooks and ravens yes because they are much more intelligent and bigger.

Do you not feel bad or remorseful when you shoot a bird? Or a rabbit?

I only kill pests which are what crows and rabbits are, and the odd fox. I dont like shooting foxes because i admire their cunning and they are close to dogs which of course i love. Crows i see as cruel animals.
And rabbits well i dont like killing them either but if you could see the damage they do when they get to such numbers as they do around here then they must be culled. I never shoot rabbits when they have got very young offspring. I never feel remorseful only if i think the animal has suffered which isnt very often as empahasis is on clean kills.

I consider myself an animal lover so dont particularly enjoy killing any animal but i enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the markmanship side of shooting and the general male bravado of going shooting with your mates!

[tikay]

Because they have an awful reputation round young lambs and dying sheep of pecking their eyes out.

I suppose it is a huge exaggeration to say i kill them all the time but if we're out shooting and there are no rabbits around, we look for crows.

And personally i would much rather see some bird of prey like a red kite.

Dont see the fascination in crows, rooks and ravens yes because they are much more intelligent and bigger.

Do you not feel bad or remorseful when you shoot a bird? Or a rabbit?

I only kill pests which are what crows and rabbits are, and the odd fox. I dont like shooting foxes because i admire their cunning and they are close to dogs which of course i love. Crows i see as cruel animals.
And rabbits well i dont like killing them either but if you could see the damage they do when they get to such numbers as they do around here then they must be culled. I never shoot rabbits when they have got very young offspring. I never feel remorseful only if i think the animal has suffered which isnt very often as empahasis is on clean kills.

I consider myself an animal lover so dont particularly enjoy killing any animal but i enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the markmanship side of shooting and the general male bravado of going shooting with your mates!

Come the Revolution, I'll organise it so that birds, foxes & rabbits are all issued with guns.

[Karabiner]

Whilst driving through the back lanes of the New Forest at 3am one morning last week I saw my first ever "live, up close" Brown Owl, sitting in the middle of the road, just staring at me in my oncoming car. He was huge, & achingly beautiful.

Imagine my despair when he failed to move, & my car hit him & killed him outright. I was devestated for days.

"I recognise him - he's that guy who's always on the TV"

Alan Glover, dubbed "The 20 stone barn-owl" by The Devilfish many moons ago