Now is the time to start watching the crows in your neighbourhood. They are staking out their 'home turf' and if you are lucky enough to have some tall pines or other very tall trees close by keep an eye on them.
The other day Bo and I were out walking and a small group of crows followed us on our walk. They were noisy, loud and would gather just ahead of us. There was some squabbling between them and I think this is about sorting out who is who and where they are in the group. Another group of crows tried to join in with this group but they were having none of it and pushed them out. It seemed this job was delegated to 3 of the 5 crows following us. After half an hour Bo and I neared the pond and all 5 crows were with us again cawing at us. Then a Red Tailed Hawk appeared, this set the crows off on another mission to rid this Raptor from their area. All of a sudden another Red Tailed Hawk appeared and the two hawks were soaring higher and higher, it seemed as if they were trying to check each other out while getting rid of the crows with their altitude. I was thinking how beautiful the sky was with the hawks, how right the light was, I could see their markings without my binoculars, it was an awe moment. It was then I was thinking how silly the crows were because they were still trying to get the hawks but their altitude was no where near the hawks. The hawks suddenly split, one east and one west and the crows were alone circling in the air. One finally caught on and headed east after one hawk, the rest decided that was enough and followed Bo and I the rest of the walk home.
The crows are keeping an eye on the neighbourhood, they have been here longer than me and want to know what I am up to because they are going to start the nest building process soon. I have seen this before and it is an amazing thing to watch. Once they start building the nest, they are quiet, they have a secret and it's the location of their nest. If you see a crow in the next month with a large twig or gathering large twigs watch where it goes with it, try to stay still. Apparently they will build several nests called preliminary nests, practice is what I call it. Also, both male and female will build the nest and the yearlings will help. As they will help when the nestlings arrive. When I lived in Port Hope crows nested right next door, every year I watched them build the nest, but the nest was in such a cluster of pine branches that I never saw the actual nest, it was hidden so well in a well thought out pine branch. The last year I was there this site was a 'preliminary' site and they laid their eggs somewhere else.
I really enjoyed watching them breaking branches from the trees to build the nest. I have lot's of photo's of this process, not one of the nest though, just the thicket of the pine branch. Here is a photo of a
one crow taking a branch to the nest site.
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