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.
Monday, May 18, 2009
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White Red White Silver is still around and walks right up to me to take food from my hand. She still has not found another mate. I was thinking Dom Max was her mate, but I see that last year I was thinking it was MaxiGap. I'll have to hunt old photos to see.
If WRWS was with Maxigap then WRWS is almost certainly offspring and I suppose always accompanied Maxi to the feeder because it was helping care for the babies. I was sure they were mates, but I can see how easily I may have misread their relationship . They did not appear to be nesting in the wooded campground (were always found where the new playground is located now) and were always together, just the two of them.
WRWS is a cutie - follows me around when I am trying to find the sick or injured crows to make sure they get something more than seeds to eat. She is quite persistent, jumping in front of me flying ahead then landing and facing me, insisting on my noticing her and fully expecting me to give in and feed her extra, too. Which of course I do :-) She also sits on my side view mirror on my car and takes food from my hand.
Reading my ending remark about Mangled Foot stung. My words turned out to be rather prophetic. She died the first week of August that summer. I still think about her every time I 'visit' the crows and wonder which crows are her family. She was the reason I started feeding the crows. I wonder what happened to her.
I still look for Bully Boy. I do not like the fact that I probably make eye contact with him but do not recognize him so do not react to or treat him the way I used to. I would always smile and use his name when greeting him. And give him treats. It bothers me that I have lost him.
One of these days I am going to revisit old photos of her and see if I can figure out which birds were family then see if i can find distinguishing characteristics to help me recognize them now.
My comment is probably longer than the post :-)
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