#64 My "Relationship" With the Crows

And in this relationship, what are the expectations and obligations?

In the list of Top Ten Memories from 2023, I listed “Crows” in the #2 spot. (See Substack #61.) That was an odd place to rank a set of birds, so here is more background.

Eighteen months ago I noticed that a group of crows were hanging around. Always six crows.

I started feeding them unshelled peanuts. They began to recognize me. In the morning, when I stepped out of my truck, I would hear a crow call. I would throw the peanuts on the ground and walk away. When I was at a safe distance, the six would fly in and start picking at the peanuts.

I mentioned this to friends, who, on their next visit, gave me a book, In the Company of Crows and Ravens, by John M. Marzluff, one of the world’s authorities on the behavior of crows.

From Marzluff’s book, I learned that my experience with the crows is typical. Crows are intelligent. They display a social and familial structure. They can communicate with each other using a library of as many as of 80 different vocalizations. They can coordinate with larger groups of crows to ward off predators.

So, I continued feeding the crows, and now after 18 months, I don’t like to miss a day. They are getting peanuts from me, and I am getting something back from them.

Do they “like me?” Am I making them “happy?” I don’t think so.

What makes me keep feeding them is the same thing that makes me keep feeding our dog, Ziggy.

From Ziggy, Diana and I get unconditional affection.

From the crows, I get a kind of acknowledgement that, whatever I am doing, it is important enough to get them up in the morning and fly some distance for a snack.

I would call it a “relationship,” however tenuous, between a human and six non-humans. And once you have accepted the idea of that relationship, then you have to accept the implications and contradictions that go along with that.

For instance, now that you are part of this relationship, what are your obligations? Is it confined to just peanuts? Or should I be doing more. What about the other animals in the vicinity?

These can be difficult questions. We are not the first to ask them, and there aren’t any easy and quick answers. We do our best to find a balance.

And, in the meantime, we feed and accommodate Ziggy’s quirks, because he is always happy to see us when we get home at night. He likes us.

And I will keep feeding the crows. I haven’t seen the crows smile yet, but maybe, in time, they will.