Mangled Foot showed up at my home today searching for food - first time all summer.
Must not be finding enough food anymore. She along with 10-20 others were on the dirt road and adjacent construction site - a few were out front and a couple were in the tree out back.. I just happened to see them at 7 pm when I went into the kitchen.
I feel horrible about ending the feedings so abruptly . It is hard enough to cut down gradually when they continue to seem hungry but suddenly closing the kitchen seems cruel.- I am causing suffering and turning my back on animals that are counting on me. *Cough* That is , of course, one of the arguments against feeding them - dependency. The population learns to rely on an unnatural food source Withdraw the human provided food source and the population can't sustain itself. In addition, the population may become artificially inflated which can impact on other species in the area. I get it. Honest.
Still, I wish I could continue feeding them through the next two winters cutting back gradually so that they do not rely on my feeding them so heavily and can gradually find other sources again. Except for the ones that can not compete. And the ones that were juveniles when I started feeding them and may not have learned the winter food sources - this way they would have time to learn without having all support disappear (I am thinking of Yellow White Silver - a regular at my feeder).
I wish more people liked crows and would feed them with the same enthusiasm with which they feed smaller songbirds. Ive heard people so many times about various animals and seasons assert that there is plenty of food, yet starvation must be one of the methods nature uses to limit populations and a rehabber here told me sometimes an eagle will be sitting by the shore too weak to get off the ground and fly or hunt because it is starving (or has eaten too much lol - I guess during salmon runs) .
I am so attached to a few of the crows, especially Mangled Foot. Tonight it took me half a dozen tries to get a cheese ball close enough to her that she could snatch it and fly away before a seagull or other crow stole it from her. I worry for her. Her disability really hinders her. I wonder how she survived or if I met her during her first adult year . She is bullied by other birds and can not turn quickly or forage as easily since she can only use one foot. I never have easily accepted some of mother natures realities. Plus I think many animals are a lot smarter than we give them credit for and crows have feelings (just listen to them when they are mad at another crow that is trying to steel food!) and families and culture . I do not like the way humans behave as if they have the right to use animals and resources in whatever way we wish and without regard to the individual animals.
I am putting food in a bird feeder and balancing a little on some tree limbs so the crows can at least access something but the seagulls can not get to it. Yes, I feel sorry for them too - begging loudly to be fed - but I need to prevent them from associating me with food because they cause a noise disturbance and deposit droppings all over the sidewalk and people's cars out front. I am trying to discourage them before neighbors start to complain. Much... I'll be washing the sidewalk tomorrow
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