Crow Planet
Monday, January 11, 2010
They are everywhere, and late in the afternoon their noise overwhelms. It's as if black umbrellas are being open and shut all across the sky, as if these crows—so wild, so raucous, so seemingly undecided about their branch on the tree—are simply not going to put up with us humans any longer. They come in force. They rule.
This afternoon, working on client stories, I could hardly think past their sound.
Finally, I picked up my camera, leaned out of my office door and snapped this shot. Then I reached for Crow Planet, Lyanda Lynn Haupt's unusual memoir/guide/meander/history book/naturalist's plea (Little Brown, 2009), and found this remembered paragraph:
Everybody has a crow story. I heard of a crow who accompanied a mail carrier on his daily route every day for more than two years, walking behind him like a golden retriever before inexplicably disappearing. I heard from a Benedictine nun that a crow in the woods surrounding her monastery befriended a large black, green-eyed cat named Ashford, and that the two shared in feasting on the birds that Ashford caught and killed. I just heard from a friend that she was watching a crow work for some time to balance a medium-sized stone atop a larger stone.... I heard from a pilot friend that his friend... also a pilot, watched the Snowbirds...practicing for an air show and afterward, a crow in the trees near the airfield practiced flying upside down.
I could tell you crow stories, too, and I've written some of them into my new novel for adults. But I'm more interested, frankly, in yours.
16 comments:
i don't have a crow story. but pigeons/doves like to sit in front of my window and watch me cooking, even in the 26th floor. especially when i am sad and need company.
oh, i just remembered - i DO have a crow story: i once saw a buzzard, which had caught a little squirrel and was sitting on it, while the squirrel was struggling to get free. the buzzard was then attacked by two crows, even in flight when the buzzard tried to escape them and eventually dropped the squirrel.. i want to believe that the crows wanted to save the squirrel. good?
Crows scare me. :-) I've read several books on crows and researched their behavioral patterns, and it's a little creepy. I think I read one book where a crow actually attempted to kill a human... :-/
I just saw that book - husband pointed it out to me because crows play an important role in novel #2...
Check this out: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.html
I own the corvid book co-written by the UW researchers, who have to cross the campus in disguise because the descendents of the original crows *still* recognize them.
I don't have a crow story either. All I can think of is the scene in, I think, How to Make An American Quilt where they said that if if you follow a crow, it will lead you to your true love. A little less scary than Priya's story. :)
Love the picture!
It has definitely been a crow day. I think I have come across no less than 7 references to crows today, my own site notwithstanding. Hm. A portent perhaps?
I don't have a crow story but I love the lines and muted colour in the photo.
I now feel inadequate. I don't have a crow story.
You're all freaking me out. I'll never look at a crow the same way.
We had about fifteen crows hanging out in our yard a couple weeks ago. My youngest wanted to play in the snow but I wouldn't let her out since these crows were HUGE! They looked like they were waiting, waiting...
No crow story here either ... but that photo? Is gorgeous. Love it.
At my house/school it's robins. There are TONS of them!!
I don't have crows but I do have an annoying magpie who swoops at me when I walk down the drive to the letterbox. They nest in the gum trees which line our drive.
I wish I had one. I shall look!
Crows to me are noble intelligent creatures. However it's not a crowe I have a story about, rather a Raven.
Two years ago I was planting my flower garden and something dropped out of the sky beside me. I reached over to find a marble, looking up into the sky, there flew the Raven circling above me. I thanked him for the gift and kept planting. I wouldn't have thought anything of it, thinking the Raven had accidently dropped his prize. Except...
The next day, it happened again and this time it was a smooth tan pocked marked stone. I looked up at the sky and watched the Raven's flight for awhile. I knew then I had been given gifts from a Raven's heart. Is there no wonder why the Raven is a spirit guide for me? (Hugs)Indigo
Love this photo!
I used to worry that the crows would take off with my chihuahua. They've always freaked me out since I saw commercials for The Birds as a child.
What a beautiful photo!
My crow story is that once, as I was driving down the street, I noticed a bunch of crows sitting on fences and the electrical wires. There were a couple more crows on the road itself. As I got closer, they flew off and revealed a dead crow on the ground. It was a crow funeral.
Thanks for the post. Crow Planet sounds very interesting!
Thanks Beth for featuring crows in this post - and for sharing that book title. My husband is crow-crazy. He does linoprinting, and one of his favourite subjects is crows.
My crow story:
When I was a girl growing up in the country north of Toronto, there was a crow that hung out around our house only in the summer time. He seemed like he wanted to get closer to us, especially when we were playing outside, but whenever we headed in his direction, he'd hop away. Every morning (really early), he'd hop down to the basement window of my sister's room and tap on the glass. He was her summer alarm clock. I often think of that crazy crow, even now.
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