Smart Birds

It began last year.  I first noticed the squirrels, desperately digging through our yard and even plant containers, searching for any morsel of food they could find.  Scrawny, with lackluster coats and bloody ulcers visible on their skin, signs of the work of parasitic bot flies, these creatures eagerly gobbled leftover bread from my deck rail.  Soon, other hungry wild creatures came calling.  Numerous birds, nocturnal opossums and raccoons all ravenously ate the food we shared with them.  It was a lean year for foraging wild animals.  After a cool, wet summer and early winter, many of the plants that normally provided animal sustenance did not yield enough nuts, berries or seeds to satisfy a hungry population.  

After stuffing on leftover bread, a squirrel relaxes in the sun

Thankfully, wild animal food is more abundant this winter and we have far fewer beggars on our deck, but there is one notable presence who remembers last year's easy bounty and demands a daily ration of bread.  Some days, the strident calls begin at daylight; if we are lucky, the hungry bird will wait until a light is switched on in the house.  When I peer out the kitchen window, I see her clearly, perched in the bare branches of a poplar tree and with every passing minute, her calls are louder and more insistent.  She is a crow and, although I reluctantly confess it, I am afraid I am her pet.

Woodpeckers also love "fast-food" bread

Farmers, especially those who grow corn, often regard crows as nemeses, but I admire these intelligent birds.  Several years ago, I planted sweet corn seeds I purchased from a local source and, in another area, I planted heirloom corn seeds I ordered from an online store.  As soon as the tender seedlings emerged from the ground, crows descended and pulled every last heirloom plant, but ignored the other field.  It was one of my first lessons in judging which plants are the tastiest and most nutritious.  Did I really want to eat something a crow would not touch?  Since that season, I only grow heirloom corn and I take some pretty drastic measures to deter hungry crows from eating my plants before they have a chance to produce.  

Whirling pinwheels deter hungry crows

Because I admire her intelligence and her tenacity, I feed the crow.  Maybe because there is a good supply of other food this year, she is now a picky eater.  Last year, she gobbled white sandwich bread, but this winter, she disdainfully looks at it and screeches for something with more substance.  I can't blame her, but her preferences are more expensive than white bread.  Croissants, homemade biscuits or cornbread are her current favorites.  After eating a few bites, she gathers as much as she can carry and flies away to eat, or possibly share, the rest.  Maybe there's another lesson there?