It’s been about 7 weeks since I started feeding the crows every day on my daily walk. It’s rare that I come home without having dropped any peanuts; I see at least a few every time I’m out, and I walk 5 or 6 days a week.
I’ve gotten to know where I’m most likely to see them, so of course I loop by those spots often. The routine is that I spot the crows, either circling in the sky or perched in a nearby tree, and I call out the same greeting every time. I will toss a few peanuts out with an exaggerated gesture, then back up enough paces that I’m about 5 meters away and stand very still to watch. Sometimes they drop right down to collect the peanuts, but they’ll often get a little closer without actually committing to the peanuts, watching me watch them. If I’m patient, they almost always eventually hop down and collect as many peanuts as they can cram in their beaks and then fly off to enjoy them. Usually they’re in pairs, but sometimes there have been 3 or 4 or even more around and they take turns swooping in for the nuts.
I’ve gone through almost 2 kg of peanuts in 2 months, and I always travel with a handful of them in my pocket. It’s clear they enjoy the peanuts, but equally clear they are still quite suspicious of me. Some days, when I haven’t seen any crows I’ll call out the greeting I give when I toss the peanuts to them, and about half the time a crow or two will appear within the next few minutes. Am I summoning them with the familiar call? Maybe. Is it pure coincidence? Possibly.
Today was something new, though. I wasn’t actually thinking about the crows at all when I caught the shadow of one passing over me. Snapped out of my grumbly thoughts, I called a greeting to the crow who had just landed high up in the pine tree near me and tossed out a few peanuts. Almost right away he swooped down for a snack, and instead of the usual grab-and-go, he stopped to pick open the peanut shells and eat them near where they had landed. I tossed him (all crows are males in my mind, especially in this breeding season where females are more likely to be on a nest) a few more peanuts and moved on when a passerby turned up the street.
A few blocks away, I looked up to see another crow sitting quietly in a tree and when I tossed a few peanuts for him, a few more crows manifested almost immediately, so I shared some nuts with them too. Mindful of time and my day job, I moved along toward home.
Another block or so away and again the familiar black shadow of a crow passed over from behind me. This time, though, the crow swooped low, much closer to me than they usually get, and landed in a tree just a few meters from me on a low branch. Surprised at the proximity, I stopped and looked directly up at him, and he met my gaze with a cocked head. It was obvious (and delightful!) to see that he had intentionally and fearlessly landed quite near to me. I called out my greeting and tossed a few more peanuts, which he happily consumed. I walked away smiling, quite certain that this brave crow had just done the equivalent of saying “hello human with food, can I please have some peanuts?”
This is a new level of engagement with my corvid neighbours and it genuinely made my day. How fun if maybe they were to start seeking me out every now and then?