Close call for baby crow

T his baby crow can’t fly or feed himself yet.  He was seen in a local park at the weekend and was still there the next day with  no parents in sight.   The magpies had found him though and were dive-bombing, they would kill and eat a young crow without any hesitation.  Is this why it’s war between adult crows and magpies?

As soon as this little chap (we’ve called him Parker)  came in we had to feed him, he was so hungry he couldn’t wait.  It’s good that he has such a will to eat and live, it’s when they don’t want to feed that we have trouble rearing them.

A crow is one of the most intelligent of birds with the same level of knowledge as a seven year old child.   We have three other crows in at the present time, they have all been injured and are waiting to heal before being released.  They have to be kept in a small space to give their wings chance to heal.

Ricky, the tame rook we released earlier this year, doesn’t like to see the crows shut up.   He’s still around and comes to see us most days, spending a lot of time roosting in a tall tree near the kennels and watching out for magpies.  He chases them away as soon as he sees them.

Ricky is keenly interested in the injured birds.  Last week he flew down to the top of their huts and began caw-ing to them.  They were very excited and seemed to think that ‘super bird’ had arrived.   Then he began trying to undo the bolts and let them out.   He could easily undo the fastener on his aviary but that was to amuse himself and us.  At that stage he didn’t want to leave.

We’ve had to put ‘Ricky-proof’ fasteners on the hut doors, when the crows are better we’ll let him release them and they can all fly off together.