I am not certain yet but I think Maxi gap or Maxilla is WR/WS's mate. The pair are nesting in the vicinity of the new playground and came to my bird feeder for the first time yesterday.
Unfortunately WR/WS only grabbed a couple of peanuts and flew home so her mate returned alopne. Repeatedly. So I could not photograph her. And he kept leaving right about the time i got the camera for what passes as focused before I see the outcome grrrr.
What was most frustrating was that 3 men at the construction site let their dogs loose while the mate was on the ground eating alone without a sentry and one of those dogs was lightening fast. Ive never thought before thjat a dog might actually catch one of the crows but gosh the dog was fast and the crow seemed slow to realize the dog was a threat (considering it left the fenced area like a horse at a race. Or a grey hound which it definitely resembled!beautiful dog)
Id had my camera ready and was waiting for it to fly back up to the feeder to get another nut which would bring it closer and not require so much zoom which would mean my pic might actually come out focused (my hands shake too much for the 10x zoom) The men laughed and I was annoyed. The birds didnt return for a few hours and I did a get a few pics then because he announced his rival (and displeasure that there were not enough nuts probably lol) but it didnt stay long or return after that
As you can see from the pics they arent clear enough and I cant tell if it is Maxi Gap or not.
My son might be coming today and I am going to drag him to feed crows at the Wooded campground since I cant
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May 21, 2008
Peter did not come this weekend since I will be up there later this week and the church did not need him to make the Costco run after all. I was both disappointed and relieved! Even after days of playing catchup the house was more of a cluttered mess than I wanted either him or his friend to witness lol.
WRWS's mate is not MaxiGap or Maxilla , but he sure has a set of tattered looking feathers and seems like he needs a heavy dose of allo-preening. They were at the feeder yesterday afternoon several times - I put out more peanuts. I got a clearer photo this time (one out of about 12! I am a disgrace to photographers the world over LOL). WRWS comes closer to me than her mate. I realized yesterday that some birds really do make good eye contact. I am not sure why that seems odd to notice. They seem to be looking into my eyes - not at my hands or anywhere else 9at the moments when I think theyve made eye contact ) and they do that when cawing at me to feed them - or staring at me intently when i am in car and they watch me through windshield waiting expectantly. I wonder what they are thinking. They seem sentient
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After feeding the crows daily for years and slipping her extra treats when she perched to take food from my hand, the banded crow WR/WS, aka "WhiteRed", moved her nest to my neighbor's yard across the alley. She gradually moved from communal nesting ground closer to my home and for 5(?) years now has nested in the neighbor's spruce. White Red finally lost her silver band almost 2 years ago so I can only identify her through behaviors specific to her or proximity to her nest during summer. She was born summer 2007 or 2008 which puts her at age 10 or 11 now.
WhiteRed and a male crow I called Silver were the only two to still wear their metal bands as of 2 summers ago. This is the first summer I have not seen Silver. He nests between alley and 5th Avenue . I worry. I will be heartbroken when WhiteRed dies. I have felt closer to and more trusted by WhiteRed,MaxiGap, and MangledFoot. Losing Max and MF was devastating and I dread losing WhiteRed. Those three and BentFoot knew their names and came when called. Bentfoot has never been quite as trusting, I've wondered if it is because he is disabled and the male. MangledFoot was female. All 4 crows and I learned to understand each other to some extent e.g. if I threw a handful of food away from the crow each waited knowing I was thinning out the nearby competition and about to toss food to him or her.
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