A couple of months has passed since the last Crow Chronicle. Since then I have been pretty consistent in walking Sweetheart to the Creek Trail every morning. Most every morning they seem to see me before I see them. Many times Buddy (alpha) will fly in right in front of me and wait for a nut. Other times it will be when I get to the creek trail and one, two or more will show up and land on the railings. I toss peanuts for them and they scoop them up happily. Sometimes they will get a mouthful (three unshelled peanuts is the record) and fly off to the other side of the creek and bury them in the grass. Until recently I thought they did that to retrieve them later when needed, but I read somewhere that crows also bury them to attract worms and other bugs so they can eat those! Either way they are getting more than enough peanuts to eat. I just changed from dry roasted unsalted to raw unsalted and I’m not to sure the gang likes them as much.
Speaking of the gang. I really don’t like the term murder. I think of them more as a family. Especially our little bunch. When we first started feeding them it seemed like it was always one crow (later to be named Buddy) that would show up on our dog walks. Occasionally after that maybe just one more (later called Momma) and rarely three more. Never more than five. I’ve figured that it’s Buddy and and Momma and the extended family. Maybe a few 
crazy teenagers who only come home when they are hungry! When all five show up you can certainly tell that Buddy is the biggest and baddest of the bunch. If there are multiple peanuts about he gets first dibs on all he can stuff in his mouth. If anyone else (including Momma) tries to get a nut he will give them a squawk and muscle his way over them. They give a subservient squawk (more like a whine). No worries because everyone gets their share in the end.
Since I put a small bowl on our mailbox outside they have started to show up at the house more often. Never the whole family. Mostly just Buddy but the last few days I have seen the Mr and Mrs fly in together to see whats cooking in the bowl. They even started to open the peanuts and wash them in our fountain out front! I had a bowl full of peanut shells in there last time I went to check it. I also saw Buddy eating and cleaning a small frog in our fountain. Anything we can do to help!
Still waiting on the crow treasure reciprocation that is supposed to take place. Although one windy morning a few weeks back Buddy had a red tail hawk feather in his grasp. He even twirled it to check it out. Unfortunately it blew away when he ditched it for a peanut. I did get a picture of it though!
My new favorite crow pic is the one at the top of this story. It hard getting good pictures because I usually have Sweetheart with me on walks and Willow is always hanging out on the porch or driveway. I had put some peanuts in the mailbox bowl and was getting ready to head to the store. I was pulling the car out of driveway when they both show up. Buddy is at the mailbox and I’m in the street hoping cars don’t come while I’m fumbling to get my camera ready. Just as as I was clicking he took off. Turned our to be a winner through. Mouthful of peanuts and flying off. What I like is that it’s a great picture of our house too!
