Our Little Friend the Crow

On Saturday afternoon I noticed a crow sitting on the hood of my wife’s car. This was totally weird because they usually stick to sitting in the trees around our house. I opened to front door and as usual, my one year old raced to the door to go out with me. We kept getting closer and closer to the bird but it wouldn’t fly away. I noticed that it didn’t look right. Its feathers weren’t shiny and it looked skinny. We made it all the way yo the car and it finally hopped off and landed in the mulch. The baby didn’t want to explore any more so we headed back inside. All the rest of the family came out to take a look and after a while it flew away as best it could.

Later on that evening, my wife went out to water her roses. I was sitting in the living room trying to stay awake. All of a sudden she raced inside with her “I saw a bug” face. The crow was back and landed next to the garden spigot. She thought is was dead. I grabbed my work gloved and headed out to dispose of the body. When I got closer I saw it move its head. It was getting dark and I could barely make out that it was blinking. By this time is was soaking wet but was too weak to move. We decided to leave it alone and let it hide in the bushes (we have cats, raccoons and possums in the neighborhood). As is usual, everyone wanted to save it but nobody wanted to take care of it.

Morning came and I got up to head to church. I noticed the bird at the end of our drive way. I shooed it away so I could back out. It had survived the night and was drinking the water that had collected in the gutter. When I came back from church, it was still around. My wife had a container of meal worms (don’t know why) so we decided to give it some. When I got too close, the other crows that had been looking over it got mad. One buzzed me and another tried to poop on me. I out the worms in the street and backed away.

When we went on our evening walk, the crow was still around. It didn’t touch the worms so I spread them out more. The other crows were still around taking care of it. This morning when I got up he had a friend hanging out with him/her.

It’s amazing how animals can show compassion. We sometimes think that we are the only species that can. It’s also amazing how some people think that animals have no feelings at all. Hopefully the little guy makes it. Him and his friends showed me a lot this past weekend. Helping other is something that I have to work on. Thanks Heckle…or Jeckle. I could never tell them apart.