A murder of crows has taken residence in a fir tree behind my house. There are maybe a half a dozen of them, and they often put on a great show that involves throaty cawing as they swoop in and out of the tree's branches. Sometimes they stage their display around a nearby telephone pole, but in the mornings, it is most often the fir tree with, on this occasion, the graceful, high altitude gliding of a seagull, somewhat more inland than usual, apparently the cause for excitement.
The tree must provide a wealth of support and stimulus, a green and growing framework for the crows' daily efforts. Tall, it must serve as an excellent perch that provides both security and great visibility, both in the sense of maximizing the extent to which they can see as well as the extent to which others can see them. I see them duck inside the branches from time to time, often with something in their beaks, but mostly, when I see them, they are swirling around the crown with great acrobatic skill, and seemingly having a fantastic time.
I feel comfortable when they are in the tree. When they stage themselves on the telephone pole, they can get a little threatening, and visions of Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds, come to mind. They actually chased me into the house the other day, as they were so excited and noisy I thought they were going to attack. The telephone pole is both lower and more skeletal, so without an interior into which they can disappear, as is the case with the fir.
I wonder, then, if the arrival of telephone poles, being what they are materially, and having the effect they do on crow behavior, or on what is possible for a group of crows, or at least my perception of it, represents an important change in the local ecology, for the crows, as well as the people, and of course for the trees. With regard to the last one, perhaps the tree is indifferent to the presence of the crows, but such a conjecture suggests the need for further research. With more droppings falling on fallow concrete, as I witnessed yesterday afternoon, and keeping in mind that crows are large and hardy creatures as far as birds go, I think the consequent displacement of nourishing manure should have some kind of measurable effect, even if in the end it proves to be inconsequential.
The tree must provide a wealth of support and stimulus, a green and growing framework for the crows' daily efforts. Tall, it must serve as an excellent perch that provides both security and great visibility, both in the sense of maximizing the extent to which they can see as well as the extent to which others can see them. I see them duck inside the branches from time to time, often with something in their beaks, but mostly, when I see them, they are swirling around the crown with great acrobatic skill, and seemingly having a fantastic time.
I feel comfortable when they are in the tree. When they stage themselves on the telephone pole, they can get a little threatening, and visions of Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds, come to mind. They actually chased me into the house the other day, as they were so excited and noisy I thought they were going to attack. The telephone pole is both lower and more skeletal, so without an interior into which they can disappear, as is the case with the fir.
I wonder, then, if the arrival of telephone poles, being what they are materially, and having the effect they do on crow behavior, or on what is possible for a group of crows, or at least my perception of it, represents an important change in the local ecology, for the crows, as well as the people, and of course for the trees. With regard to the last one, perhaps the tree is indifferent to the presence of the crows, but such a conjecture suggests the need for further research. With more droppings falling on fallow concrete, as I witnessed yesterday afternoon, and keeping in mind that crows are large and hardy creatures as far as birds go, I think the consequent displacement of nourishing manure should have some kind of measurable effect, even if in the end it proves to be inconsequential.
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