Nests in Wooded Campground

I found Mangled Foot's nest and saw one of her chicks day before yesterday and today I got to see several of her babies. I have never seen baby crows before and I confess I was pretty excited. Mangled foot is special to me, but I would have been enthralled anyway. I sat and watched them through binoculars. They do not fly yet but are almost as big as she is. They have blue eyes! Their feathers are different but I do not know how to describe the difference.

I also found several other crows' nests in same area - the wooded campground. The nest in the photo is from the last camp site on the west side of the road on the eastern side of the Wooded Campground. I thought that nest looked lower than any of the others i had seen. I saw several but could not get photos. There are at least 7 nests in the campground. Now I am wondering if that is their winter roosting area. I had wondered that before because they were always in that vicinity if they did not come to my house begging for food and on extremely windy days. Still, I thought they probably roosted somewhere farther away. Much farther away!

Both male and female crows work in constructing the nest sometimes aided by one or more “helpers”, generally their offspring from previous years. When possible, nests are located well hidden in crotches high up in tall trees. If no suitable trees are available, crows may nest in shrubs, man-made structures, and rarely on the ground. Crows tend to build new nests each year, seldom reusing a nest from a previous year. The new nests, however, will generally be located close to the old nests within the area claimed as the territory of a particular pair, or family, of crows.

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