Gluttony in Middle Seward Waterfront Park & Campground

Blue/Red--Silver stocking up on dog food nuggets.





Red/White-White/Silver
This photo of White-White confirms that she is Red White - White Silver. There is or was another crow with white- White/Silver and there was no colored band underneath the white.





Maxi Gap









Above and below Mom teaches her fledglings the art of camp robbing...









In the photos labeled --WS I can not see the right leg well enough to determine whether there is a band on that leg, but based on notes I made at the time I believe the bird in pics labeled "--WS" only has the one plastic band. In the photo numbered 70 you can see the last 3 digits of the metal ID band - "037".



In addition to W-W- and __WS there is a crow with with _W-W/S .


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Mangled Foot

I think Mangled Foot died the first week of August 2009. This photo was taken the last time I saw her.

The last time I saw Mangled Foot was the morning of August 1, 2009 when I visited her before going to Anchorage to see my son for nearly a week. I watched her take a peanut into the road and sit on the yellow center line dividing the lanes to break open the shell. I felt a wave of fear for her that she might get hit by a car. The first or second time I returned to the campground after I returned from Anchorage there was a dead crow near the side of the road which had clearly been run over. I thought the beak appeared pink inside not from blood so believe it was one of the newly fledged.

I have not seen Mangled Foot even once since I returned from Anchorage. She normally comes when I call her name except for when she is sitting on her nest - usually in June. Maxi Gap has had a second group of babies so it is possible Mangled Foot has also, but even Maxi gap comes out to get some food. Sometimes I feel certain Mangled Foot has died and other times I still hope to see her.

I feel very sad to think she is gone and I will never see her again. It will bother me not knowing what happened, but maybe that is a blessing. Sometimes I think I see Bully Boy , but I am never sure since part of identifying him was his proximity to and interactions with Mangled Foot.

White band has been feeding several newly fledged crows and White/Red-White/Silver no longer has a mate so he must have died. He looked old last summer. A crow with only a silver band has appeared but does not look as large as Silver and I believe the original " Silver Houdini" was the one who died. I have been unable to get close enough to photograph this ones metal band number . There is also a crow with only a yellow and a silver band, but it is not the one who was so friendly and curious that I called "Yellow" last summer. I am certain that one has died as it showed up with a broken foot last Fall and I havent seen it at all this Spring or Summer. Many of the banded crows have disappeared Read more!

Mangled Foot

I saw Mangled foot today. She looks the worse for wear- she's lost weight and her feathers were ruffled in an unattractive manner , but I fed her some of my pizza.. I had not seen mangled foot for a month and was starting to thinkj she had died. i kept thinking that maybe she was brooding, but not having seen her even once had me worried. I saw her for the first time a few days ago and was so excited. I had pulled over near the nest i thought was hers and called her name quietly and suddenly she was in the tree watching me. I tossed out some peanuts and she swooped down and started to collect them. When I saw her foot and knew for certain that it was her I tossed her a piece of fish (fake crab) which she began to eat immediately. Today I was feeding the crows peanuts while i ate a slice of pizza i got from Lombardo's ($29 worth), but when she showed up I started sharing my pizza. I threw many pieces to or close to mangled Foot and she caught quite a few, but a few seagulls showed up and made it more difficult. Mangled Foot is smart and would place herself where she was in the area where i was tossing but away from the other birds - it is like a football player trying to make himself open for a pass. I am really happy to see that she is alive.

There were some very young crows that showed up for peanuts, but I could hear many more in the trees begging for food. I now recognize the sound of a baby begging then being fed - the sort of muffled sound mid begging.

The crow that eats from my hand took several pieces of pizza from my hand . I have decided to call him pretty boy. He was around a lot this past month so I am thinking he was not brooding and is not a female

I am very aware of the campers and do not want to disturb them. Last year there were two 1 child families camping right next to each other who complained even when I was only taking photo graphs from the road. Both were quite rude and I do not want a repeat. Read more!

Mangled foot's nest

Found Mangled Foot's nest today. I was walking past on the street.and heard what i thought was a fledgling begging for food. I followed the calls and it was Mangled foot sitting in a nest across from site 14. I offered her a couple of peanuts and she left the nest for a few seconds, took the peanuts, then returned to the nest. She started making the begging call again a couple of minutes later. In a tree seeming to watch over her when she left the nest was a crow that looked a lot like bully Boy, but had a beak I remember but can not place - it might have been Bully Boy or another crow i saw with Mangled foot last year.

I found myself automatically keeping an eye out for Silver Houdini. he or she used to be almost a sure thing any time I was at that end of Ballaine. I saw White-White/Silver or White-White on Silver.

Some tourists were watching a pair of crows on the bike path so I approached them. They asked if they were crows or ravens and said they had seen a crow with a yellow band a few minutes before. I told them USGS was studying them. I dont call people's attention to it now because last year they kept misinterpreting and assuming I worked for USGS and that was neither accurate, comfortable, or the point. I wanted people to be more interested in and tolerant of the crows. Since these people brought up the band I told them about the study. I wish I had thought to tell them about reporting sightings and that there was a website. I didnt think about it until later.

I looked for White/Red-White/Silver and the old looking fella she mated with (Maxi Gap?) - he had a long beak with a gap and looked like he could use a good dose of allo preening. I also looked for the yellow banded crow but never saw it.

When I set out on my walk I was heading for the rabbit yard. Noticibly absent was Old Man Rabbit who has been very sick with what I believe is a bacterial infection . He was having such a hard time breathing I tried to persuade a vet a Sea Life Center to treat him, but to no avail. I did see the big Tan Rabbit who is also sick with what I assume is the same respiratory illness. I gave her apples and carrots. This was the first time she didnt see very wary of me. She is almost always on the outside of the fenced rabbit yard and I wonder if it is because she is sick.

I wish I had gotten a photo or video of Mangled Foot in her nest. I will go back with my camera but probably not for a few days. I do not want to risk her feeling threatened or harassed , although she certainly seemed comfortable with my presence today. maybe it is because there are not many campers yet.

I dread the day when I am told or realize she is gone. Read more!

Silver Houdini died

Silver Houdini was found dead today in the wooded campground. Silver was one of the birds that was usually around mangled foot and would get very close to me, but was not an aggressive crow. I will miss Silver. I last saw him or her about two weeks ago. A worker in the campground found Silver. The band # is 705-75007 Read more!