Crows increasing in number

Sadly, a crow with a yellow band showed up with an injured right ankle or foot - I thought it was mangled Foot the way its foot was bent and it did not put any weight on that leg. I believe it was Yellow W/S

I thought I saw a crow with a single orange band that also had the white/silver band on left ankle .

Gradually I am seeing more and more of the banded crows that have been away all summer. Sometimes I see a large flock , but usually in my yard there are 10 - 20 at a time. The band colors change so I assume the other crows are different as well and these are different groups of crows coming to my feeders at different times of day.

Humorously, there is a very young one that seems to constantly beg to be fed. It aggressively follows its mother and basically harasses her until she feeds it. It actually makes me laugh sometimes when I hear the gurgling sounds that indicate the mom has given in and is feeding it, again. Sadly I have read that crows born late in the season have a harder time surviving winter. I am pretty sure I have seen the 'baby' pick up dog food and eat it in the yard - but it may have been another young one begging that I saw stop and feed itself.

Their voices are so different from the adults and do not seem as loud yet even back in my bedroom I can hear the young ones begging at the feeders on the living room side. There a couple of young ones that come with an adult and fuss at me if the feeders are empty and no food is on the ground. They park themselves on my open window or in the adjacent tree and squawk, wait, repeat. I think I pretty much always respond. Today I do not know what attracted them but there were about 7 outside my window and I did not want them annoying the neighbors by leaving deposits on the sidewalk so I drug my lazy tush out with a bowl of food and they mostly followed me around to the living room side. When I returned however there were still 3 crows hanging around the sunflower feeder.

I keep trying to get pictures but usually the banded bird I am hoping to get flies off too quickly or the photo is out of focus. I suck as a photographer. But it gives me an excuse to feed the birds - bribing the crows so I can photograph the ones with bands or deformed beaks , not merely because I enjoy the birds. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I had actually been taking some photos of the crows before I ever learned what the bands were, in part i just wanted to show my family how large the flock was that would show up for dinner :) I never could get a photo that really showed the crows en masse on the ground. I would need a wide angle lens. A very wide angle.

The rabbits seem to have abruptly stopped sleeping under the tree since the rains started. I have seen them in the park a few times and once across the street. The medium sized tan one has started foraging on the north side of the bridge. I watched a crow repeatedly sneak up behind it and nip at its tail. When I caught up with the crows I offered it a bit of dog food (I didnt have much - Id come bearing gifts for the bunnies) trying to distract it so the rabbit could eat in peace. The crow was more interested in counting coup. It is kind of fun to watch them do that although I always feel some degree of pity for the animal they are harassing.

At night every time I have seen it there are two older larger rabbits (one is the patriarch I assume - the old looking one with an eye problem) kept trying to hump it and while it was trying to eat. It was gobbling up the broccoli like it was starving. It usually is not so eager. I think the white and tan one is a male but maybe it is just an agressive female. It took over black bunnies day time spot under the tree that she had dug out for herself.



I wonder what will happen to the babies . They are still much smaller than the adults. I hope they do not end up in the clutches of a predator. Or dies mercifully quick if they do.

It is horrifying to think people basically torture them on behalf of cosmetics companies. Pointless suffering. Think about it - we kill for make up