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May 15th
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The crows have split up into smaller groups and territories now. Some are building nests. MangledFoot stays near a particular campsite in the Wooded Campground so I think her nest is there. Ive seen her every feeding until today and there were 2 crows in a tree at the camp site that did not come down so I left food in several places and left - it may have been MF and her mate. May 15th
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Silver looked different to me today and yesterday- fluffier with a more rounded forehead. I took photos. The thought occurred to me that another bird may have removed all but the silver band, but probably not. Hope not! I've been surprised by how many crows manage to remove at least one band.
I have not seen Orange for weeks I think. Wonder why. Every now and then I will see a crow with color combinations I haven't seen for a long time which is fun for me, but after only a day or two it disappears again. I wonder where the others live. At one time I thought the winter roost was on Nash Road.
RedWhite/WS has the damaged right foot with zero control over the toes. Sad. It is having a hard time adapting. It showed up in my yard a few times when I was lazy and tossed food out the window. Unfortunately once the seagulls invaded RWWS stopped coming. It would stay at the back of the group well out of harms way which also meant it was well out of my throwing range and beyond where any would food land. A couple of times after I had closed the "kitchen" for the day and the gulls and other crows had left Id notice RWWS near my window so Id toss it some food. Much to my chagrin the sea gulls roost on the roof and watch my yard and the park so as soon as I throw any food out gulls descend en masse. After a few times of that RedWhiteWS stopped coming. I don't recall if I have seen it at the Wooded Campground.
I am not fond of gulls but I usually end up giving them some food intentionally because they make eye contact and act so hungry. I am a push over.
The crows that are staying near my home are a small group of mostly non banded crows, plus DomMax and YellowWhiteSilver. Actually DomMax or a look alike also seems to always show up when I go to feed the crows at the Wooded Campground. BlueWhite/WhiteSilver makes regular appearances with the group that hangs out near my home on the south end of town. WhiteBlue/WhiteSilver also shows up but with less frequency than YWS or BWWS. WhiteRed/WS is also a regular around My Backyard, but somehow manages to show up at the Wooded Campground if I stick around more than a few minutes when I feed the crows there.
Today after I made my rounds in the campground I drove over to the North parking lot where the Crow Banding site was to feed some crows that the others chased out of the camp ground. I wonder what that was about. When I was finally done and putting on my seat belt to leave DomMax landed on the hood of my car and tapped my windshield. I had seen him earlier at my house but not in the Wooded Campground and I had been there and at the Banding Site for over an hour. He showed up just in the nick of time - I gave him several wads of shredded cheese. Naturally gulls made it impossible to feed much in the Banding Site lot, but in the campground it was a little easier because of all of the trees.
It has been raining for days and some guy was sitting in the doorway of his small tent looking bored. And damp. He had one of those blue tarps over the tent for added protection and to make a small vestibule. The campground is full on the weekends but seems almost deserted during the week. I had groceries in car so gave him bottled water and almond joys. Unfortunately the only 'real' food I had was frozen microwavable dinners. FMS flared up past couple weeks and I stopped cooking again. I thought about offering him a ride somewhere but a) I would have had to take some things out of car and leave them there unattended to make room for him 2) I'm not comfortable being alone in my car with strangers anymore (getting old), and c) at $4.29 per gallon gas is a bit too pricey to justify making extra trips. I'm only feeding at campground every 2 or 3 days because of gas prices. He said he is going to live in the campground ands work at the Smoke Shack - next to the bike shop.
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