I know animals do things that are amazing, like use tools and plan ahead. But I never before saw anything like I saw today in person.
I had put out some hard little cracker things that I didn’t like, for the birds and squirrels to eat. A crow was on the clothes line pole. They really aren’t very brave, for being big birds, and those crackers were close to the house. So he came down in 3 stages, finally on the patio where the crackers were.
He picked up one cracker very quickly and flew, up to the bird bath. Then he dropped the cracker in the water, pulled it out and dropped it in again. Then he sat there and broke it apart and ate it. The cracker was too big and hard for him to eat, so he put it in the water to soften it. Then he did it all again with another cracker.
So I saw a bird make a decision that he wanted that food but he had to do something to it before he could eat it, and made use of the water as a tool to make it manageable. Nature never stops amazing me, to be able to see that happen.
Earlier I saw 2 starlings mating in the grass, and what an ungraceful mess all that was. It made me wonder how so many starling chicks get born, or maybe that’s the way starlings always…..get it done. I have surely seen more effective looking bird matings before. There have been 2 rabbits around the yard, so there might be a bunny nest before long, and little ones running around.
Last May I had to have an old cherry tree taken down, diseased and at the end of its life span. In its place I had an ornamental weeping cherry tree planted. The guy from the tree company told me to keep it well watered all summer, and if conditions were right, it might even bloom this spring. So, weeks ago there were little green shoots on every branch……it made it thru its first winter! A week ago, the green shoots turned pink…..it’s going to bloom! It is now called the happy little tree.
Spring and all that goes with it. Spring things are starting to bloom, and I have stuff in the garden cleaned up and waiting…..till the day I can plant things. I get all excited about spring and all the new beginnings.
Sarasin's thoughts....... 
Each of your posts seems the most especially delightful one. But this is surely up there in the very top ones. Still smiling … Happy Spring!
Thank you for such kind words! I appreciate your comment so much. I’m just an old lady, rambling along about whatever, and I’m always glad to know that people enjoy the ramblings. 🙂
Crows are scary smart. They can remember peoples faces just as starters. And yes they can use a tool to male a tool to retrieve a morsel of food. They are the chimps of the bird world. I actually saw a crow use two sticks to make a fire and proceeded to roast marshmallows. But seriously Starlings are the least resistant to die at an early age and are prolific at raising two sets a year. They were introduced to the US apparently because the starling was mentioned in literature. They do not mind their own business by building nests on trees but will crawl under down spouts and find ways to bring an entire truck load of debris in over hanging eves etc of the house. They are very resistant to diseases and a swarm of them can bring down an airplane. If not they are near to be classified as an invasion specie.
Crows live up in the woods and come down here to visit sometimes. But starlings, those devils, there’s a place up in the eaves of my roof where a whole bunch of them team up and build nests every year, like hippies living together in some commune. They lose some babies every year and I find their little dead bodies along side of the house. Those I just tolerate, but I love crows, and was amazed to see this one do this first hand. So, when the crows made the marshmallows, were they willing to share? 😉 Thanks for commenting on my blog!
Always enjoy your posts and looking forward reading them. Spring is my favourite season of the year and so happy spring arrived in this part of the world.
Herman it has arrived! There are still cold nights for another month or so, but that’s normal. There are plenty of nice warm days to get the yard and garden in shape and ready. I know you love the warm seasons, when you and Mr. Bowie can enjoy your beautiful garden. I picture you out there with coffee in the morning, and him checking to see how the catnip is growing. Enjoy every minute!
Outside of an occasional single crow hanging out in a store parking lot the only time I see any is when there are about 10,000 of them resting on a golf course during migrating in spring or fall. They stay for about a week then are gone again.
They are one kind that stay here all year round. They often sound alarms from in the woods behind my house.
If I thought there was any possibility crows would scare away groundhogs I’d try to catch a few to tame as pets. 🙂
😆👍
Watch that flowering cherry tree. One of the main problems I encounter are suckers from below the graft. That tree is actually grafted in two spots. the lower graft is not often the problem. The upper graft is where suckers from the straight trunk grow up and over the weeping scion. The weeping scion often puts up strong vertical growth that will put out weeping growth the following year, but any strong vertical growth from below the graft must be removed. (I do not see any suckers yet. The graft is quite distinct, right below where all the branches originate from.) The other problem is sun scald. Yours is a nice specimen that should shade its own trunk just fine, although I can not tell which way South is. If you notice that the tunk is not shaded during hot summer weather, you might want to put a wide stake or a narrow plank up against the south side of the trunk. It can be strapped loosely in place to shade the sensitive bark. It probably will not be necessary for such a nice tree, and will become even less important as the tree grows. It might become an important issue later in life, if the tree is damaged in some way that exposes the trunk.
Well this is so cool, advice from an arborist across the country! Since you wrote this, I went and searched, not understanding what you meant by “put out weeping growth” the following year, and now I understand it more. Thank you so much! I’ll watch for any suckers below the graft where the weeping part was put on. I’ll also watch to see how the shading is on the south side. Cool, who knew you would teach me about my own tree, here. I’ll tell Albert what to watch for too. 😉
Yes, keep Albert busy and distracted.
He hasn’t asked for your address lately……🥴
I moved – to Australia.
Such a delightful post. Little late to the Spring party, have a lot of catching up to do. 🙂
I did wander around the woods for some bird watching a few times this Spring already, but nothing beats backyard bird watching. I often dismiss crows as boring and go looking for the more colorful birds, but what the crows lack in appearance, they make up with their intelligence, should watch them more closely 🙂
Not only your posts but the comments that follow are also fun to read and informative.
Can’t wait to see the happy tree bloom!
Thank you for your kind words. 😊 I have some wonderful regular readers who often leave interesting and fun comments. Crows, yes, they are so smart! Enjoy spring.
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