TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@social.cleverlibre.org

For the holiday, a thread on how to befriend crows.

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Befriending crows is a wonderful thing.

I have many crow friends at home and at work. They bring joy at unexpected moments and can rescue a miserable day even without shaking down the dust of snow that Robert Frost described.

This thread is an updated version of one I posted at the bird site in July 2019.

#birding #birdwatching #birds #urbanbirding #crows #corvids #crow #corvid #crowfriends

For the crows that live near my house, I have a call as well. It's simple. I go outside and shout "Hello, crows!"

I'd do that every time before feeding them, especially if they were nearby to see me feeding.

After a few months, they started doing something new. When I called them, even if they were blocks away, they started talking back with loud food calls. Now I can go outside, call once, and then listen to them calling back to me as they fly in from all around the neighborhood.

Photo: A frequent visitor who goes around the house until she can see me through the window, and then endeavors to get my attention.

The crows at work almost always spot me before I spot them. I think they recognize my gait because they can find me in a new jacket with the hood up against the Seattle rain. They have a particular flight pattern, a low swoop braking right in of me, to get my attention.

Sometimes their wingtips brush my arm as they come by. This took a while; at first I would feed them any time I saw them, even up high on a light pole. Now I wait for them to swoop me.

My avatar here is one of those work crows.

Then there are fledglings! If crows trust you, they will introduce you to their young ones.

Nothing is better.

Nothing.

Personally, I like to talk to them. I have no idea whether this helps or not. But I treat each one with dignity, greet them when I see them, explain what I'm doing as I'm getting out a treat, ask them how their days have been, that sort of thing.

Hancock Park, just south of Hollywood, 1992 - and may this vehicle be waiting outside your door on Hanukkah eve or Christmas morning 🕎🎄 #losangeles

#Dogs
#DogsOfMastodon

@TheOldGuy generally the republicans are much easier on the wallet. So no surprise.

Been watching for any mention in the J6 reporting of the Willard Hotel war rooms' role in the insurrection. Almost zilch. Investigators lacked power to immunize the players who strategized there, so Jack Smith has his work cut out. https://digbysblog.net/2022/12/24/where-theres-no-there-in-j6-report/

russia did it in Grozny
russia did it in Syria
russia's doing it in Ukraine

russia has always been a terrorist, russia will always continue to be a terrorist, until we stop it