Sunday, October 12, 2008

Crows Doing What??? Part II


As a little refresher, the first photo here is the same as the last one in Part I.
Note the bird on the right who is watching Food and Pursuer.

Pursuer ends up with the food. Turns his back and eats it.


Pursuer walks south.

Lead/Food heads out toward the north. In the meantime Pursuer has two of, what I would take as more mature birds, double teaming him. They are coming at him from two sides.

Pursuer who is being double teamed returns from the south and heads to the northwest. The two other birds are closing in.

Then the weirdest thing happens. Mature bird 1 catches up with Pursuer and what does Pursuer do? Just because Mature 1 is eyeballing him, before he's even touched, Pursuer flings himself to the ground sideways. Position comparable to the behavior of a lower status dog presenting his neck to a higher status dog? See his feet sticking out on the left while Mature 1 stares fixedly down at him.


Mature 2 arrives on the scene, possibly the bird that has been the sentinel farther afield earlier, and continues being sentinel but also is double teaming Pursuer. Mature 1 grabs some of Pursuer's feathers, possibly primaries and tugs at them . He does not pull them out but rather tugs and slides his beak over them.


Mature 2 remains on watch as obviously the other two won't be paying attention to any possible danger during what might be a "disciplinary process"? After a few moments, Pursuer struggles to his feet and flies across the street with Mature 1 right behind him.

Mature 2 watches them go.

And then heads back to his more usual Sentinel position.

And the Crows on this side of the street go back to their business.

Now over to Pursuer and Mature 1's side of Hilltop Street.

Several other members of the flock are already on this side
.
Not in the photo, but Mature 1 is still herding Pursuer, this time away from the other birds and to the south.

The other birds have found something just over the edge of the railroad track hump.

A head pops up from the food with focus.

A bird topside, checks.

Then leans over and attempts to include himself in the snack.

Mature1 appears again and is looking west.

Suddenly an intense Cawing comes out of the tree with the yellow leaves. The whole time there has been not only the sentinel on the ground on the east side of the street, but also a sentinel high in a tree on the west side.

After a touch more herding from Mature 1, Pursuer stays far from the other birds on the west side of the street by himself.

Crows begin to come out of the dip.

All the Crows have come out of the track dip now and are alert and looking around.

The western sentinel comes out of the tree and heads to the east side of the street. All the other Crows from the dip do the same. And then I see what has caused the alert. A man is walking his Husky along the railroad track. Man and dog keep to the track.

Sentinel calls a few more times, then realizing no doubt that man and dog are keeping to the track, does a bit of preening.
He watches as they go by and I get into my car and go home.
Donegal Browne

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