I'm Crowing

I've had a few days of being hectored and cawed at by nervous, anxious parental crows. Their fledgling disappeared the day after it was found here, and the Mom and Dad have kept a hawk-like watch on me ever since. They think I stole it.

Whenever I go near the windows of the studio, they Kraw out a loud alarm. When I cross the yard, they swoop down from the redwood tree where they're keeping watch. But their baby was, until today, nowhere to be seen. I searched the yard for the stray feathers that cats and other crow-eaters leave behind after a meal, but there were none. Still, the chances of the little crow's survival seemed dim, as the parents still seemed to think I had it hidden away somewhere.

Then, this morning as I came home from Choir, the fledgling was in the road in front of my house. I tried to shoo it to safety, but its parents came swooping when I threatened to get near it. I was heartened to find it alive - I was starting to feel really bad being yelled at by crows all day long for the kidnapping of their child. Now they could see their young one was alive, and would leave me alone.

Not so fast. The fledge found its way back to my backyard - it can fly well enough to get over fences, but still not so well to return to its 75-foot high nest. Now its been in the backyard for a few hours, and it caws in its little crow voice, and its parents caw back from their redwood tree, and I have to cover my head and run for it every time I leave the studio - the parents are VERY protective now.

Sheesh. Life with crow.