Happy surprise in my petunia’s.
I have spent the spring befriending a small murder of crows that live in the trees around us, one in particular seems to enjoy my company. At our house we call him Dennis because he hops away with the peanuts I have tossed his way. He greets me as I go outdoors with a bit of a squawk. He frequently makes me laugh out loud with his antics and happy hopping. Perhaps it’s happiness or it may just be his way.
In my research about crows I have read many nonfiction books about crows or fiction with crows in them. One book in particular, Tana French’s The Searcher has a crow character that has one white feather.
I researched to discover that Leucism is a pigment disorder that affects many birds and animals. Imperfection!
My goal for this prompt is to use Dennis as my model and capture the unique beauty of Leucism.
This is Dennis also known as Hopper.
Notice the heart ?
Leucistic Crow
SQUAWK!
These imperfections are amazing. I have also learned a new word, Leucism. Fascinating.
We recently moved house and there are crows who live next door in tall palm trees.
A pair of them constantly entertain us when they come and wash the food scraps in the edge of our pool!!
I’ve also noticed crow etiquette, how one crow will arrive will a substantial scrap of food, the partner will stand by, quite patiently, until the first one has eaten its fill, and then eat what’s left!
Jacque, we too have a murder of crows who hang out at our place. They join the mischief of magpies and the band of butcherbirds who recognise us as “their” humans and do not swoop us when we are in their territory. But they also recognise and assist their own, adapting to changes in the area, warning of danger when the big monitor lizards come to visit and seeing off any intruders they do not like. They seem tolerant of members of their own flock who are different, including those with leucism, and with injuries or disabilities. We had a female magpie with a deformed leg who raised her young over 5 seasons. So, the male magpies did not differentiate!
Oh, I wish I could sit with you while you hang out with your murder and Dennis. I love the Corvidae family. I befriended 12 balcony cockatoos a few weeks ago while traveling. Imagine if the two of those had offspring together. A white crow or black cockatoo. Can’t wait to see what you do with this.