Saturday, July 12, 2008

One Foggy Morning


The Fog couldn't stop her... She knew what to do...




For along side the driveway.... the wild strawberries grew...



The reminder kept sounding.......



Caw..... Caw.....Caw...



Baby is hungry...



There's a job to do...



I could not resist these crows in the fog the past morning... They come everyday... searching through the grass... and up and down the driveway... picking their breakfast, dinner and supper...

They really never bother my garden... we co-exist perfectly... they seem to know where they shouldn't go...



This picture, I enhanced so the red of the berries in the mama crow's mouth could be seen a bit more clearly...

They were both soaking wet...


American Crow... Corvus brachyrhynchos... very intelligent birds... incubation 18 days by both sexes... stay in nest 28-35 days... brooded by female... fed by both sexes... 1 brood per year...

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22 comments:

Anet said...

Wonderful shots! Caleb was just telling me the other day how intelligent and useful crows are. I think he watched something on TED about them.
Crows in the fog, very cool Gwen!

ArtPropelled said...

Brrr... it looks freezing. There is something so comforting about having wild birds and animals in your garden.

Janice Thomson said...

It's so wonderful to see a kindred spirit when it comes to the much maligned crow whose intelligence would put many a person to shame. Beautiful photos and commentary Gwen.

Sharon said...

Wow you guys really do get some serious fog!

Your photos show beautifully the crows and how they have their own little world oblivious to us. Sometimes I wonder if there isn't some being somewhere watching us and chuckling at our obliviousness!
Hope the fog clears soon.

annette emms said...

Gwen, these foggy crow pictures are great. I am so pleased to know that someone else likes crows.
For weeks,I've been watching a family of crows in the meadows where I walk Rowan.
They are such fascinating birds and often keep me company when I'm loitering in churchyards, I like to imagine what they're saying to each other. . .Annette

Gwen Buchanan said...

Anet, Thanks... I haven't seen that one... I'm going to look it up!! I'm glad Caleb appreciates these birds.. Hope he tells everyone that will listen...

....

Oh Robyn, it really wasn't cold, that is the strange thing.. it just feels fresh and tucked in... I have found with each passing year, the more the trees and shrubs grow in the garden, the more birds come to visit and stay...

....
Janice, I'm glad you feel the same way about these wonderful birds... We could take a few lessons from them..

....
Hey Sharon, glad to report that the fog has gone back out to sea and the sun has been shining for the last 2 days...
The crows are up to their antics as they have discovered that the elderberries are ripe and have been bringing their family over to feast... fun to watch...

.....

Hi Annette, That sounds like fun... wouldn't that be a riot just for one day to hear what they might be saying or thinking... They probably think we are all tall silly noisy things!!

denise said...

I love crows - such nice shots in the fog.




Blogger is doing weird things with my comments...trying again!

Don said...

I wonder how crows got their negative image?

Poe? Shakespeare?
Negative phrases: Eating crow. Crowing over others' misfortunes.

I like your foggy images. I think crows are fun to watch.

They keep their distance around here. The previous owner's of our farm had a son who shot every living thing that came into his peripheral. Maybe the crows have a long memory?

Gwen Buchanan said...

Don, Do you really think that crows have a negative image... If so it must have come from misunderstanding of them.. or lack of education... or a silly superstition... Hope we can all change that..
I just think of them as a precious part of nature...

Ciara Brehony said...

Oh. My heart. These photos are just so spooky, eerily beautiful. Beautiful. I just love crows.

rivergardenstudio said...

What a beautiful story and photographs of a foggy morning. I love your imagination! Roxanne

Seth said...

The foggy shots are so dreamlike. Beautiful!

Jazz said...

Crows. Mg absolute favourite bird.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Denise, Ciara, Roxanne, Seth, Jazz.. I am so glad you all appreciate these beautiful birds... It is slightly foggy today... though not near as dense as the day these pictures were taken...

William Evertson said...

No need for a rooster at our house. At dawn the crows and red tailed hawks have a shouting match. It must be territorial. They make quite the emotional awakening. Are they trash talking? This goes on most of the day. Frankly, as much as I love both species, I wish they would find common ground. Most days a dawn wake up is fine, but on the weekend, I long to be
an owl and scare the pants off all of them.

Ruth said...

I like the photos, especially the one that looks like they're kissing. And I like your poetry too.

It's like lots of animals that have negative press through history. They had to make up myths to support life's dramas. There's nothing bad in nature, it's only our perspective that makes it so. Even a tsunami isn't bad. Just deadly results.

I like crows, and I admire their courage and tenacity when I'm driving along country roads, and they wait until the last mili-second to rise from their feast on roadkill.

sandy said...

There's something about crows I like. I have one that stops by on the back fence every morning.

Gwen Buchanan said...

That's funny Bill! You are going to have to find some sort of silencer.. or earplugs!!

********
Ruth I wish I could have gotten closer to them; as it was I had to take the pictures through a double glazed window.. They are so aware.. I can rarely sneak up on them.

yes they do a pretty good job of cleaning up the roadsides... another part of the balancing act of nature...

I love the way you phrased the paragraph of the perspective we have on things...Thanks!!

******

I think he likes you too, Sandy!!

Guillaume said...

I love these pictures, but then I always loved foggy days. It creates such an atmosphere, and the crows just enhance it.

About the crows bad reputation, I read about it a bit, and one of the most probable hypothesis is that it dates from early agricultural societies, when crows and ravens were often showing up to eat the harvest. While their early appearances were a good sign, as it was showing harvest was going to be good, they quickly turned into a nuisance, sometimes even a menace. Added to this that they are black, scavenger and have what some people might consider a sinister cry and you get one misunderstood bird. That said, they are not always perceived negatively: Odin has two crows at his service. They are supposed to be very intelligent creature, but that can also be perceived as threathening.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Guillaume, I so enjoy your thoughts and understanding of crows.. I presume in certain areas if anyone's garden is near a rookery and the picking looks easy, they will probably descend..

Since we first came here and began to clean up the land from the cut-over forest it had been, we were surrounded by crows and ravens as they roost nearby and fill the sky with their antics... they gather in huge flocks here..

Their sociability and interaction is enthralling to me...

Guillaume said...

Thank you, it might inspire me to write an entry on that topic in my blog. I think in a time when famin was frequent and every grain counted, crows were perceived as much more threathening. That they were scavengers probably did not help. They were often associated with death, disease and corruption. Like wolves, I always found crows and especially ravens both terrifying and fascinating.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Guillaume...And magnificent in their intelligence... unknowing that humans have these reactions to them they follow their instincts for survival...

...and the scavenger aspect.. I surely relate to, as I too am a scavenger