DOWN THE CROW ROAD

by Karl MacKeeman on Friday, May 6, 2011 at 12:49pm

Ravens are a little less socialable than crows and live in smaller groups. In Charlottetown they nest close to the archives in the centre of the city.I've been sketching and painting crows for many years now but of course they are not a popular subject. Had I choose pretty song-birds that would have paid for paint and canvas, but crows, even though are not pretty are song-birds. In fact they are considered amongest the largest songbirds. Many people wouldn't find the songs of of crows to be pretty. In fact I've known people that have shot crows just for the crime of disturbing thier Sunday morning hangover.It sure isn't pretty what they do to the sidewalks on Brighton Road and there has been considerable expense used to discourage the roosting in Victoria Park. Crows are a world-wide problem because they have one the widest distribution of any bird. Some cities have whole departments devoted to what they call "the crow problem".
Cultures as differant as the west coast first nations tribes of North America and the ancient Greeks have considered crows and ravens 'god-like'. Apollo, the sun god, had a white raven as his messanger and confident until the bird brought him news of the infidelity of the human woman he was dating at the time. In his anger Apollo killed his lover and later regretted it. A case of blaming the messenger, He turned the raven black to mourn her and banished him from Mount Olylimpis.
The Hidea believed that the human race was created by raven along with the moon and the stars. People who lived closer to nature than we do today were well aware of the intelligence of all members of the crow family.
Where-ever people went crows have followed.They have adapted well to civilization. Our wars provided food for flocks of crows and ravens. Our gibbets and garbage dumps did the same. Members of the crow family can eat almost anything and much of my failed cooking experiments have gone to the crows without complaint. The only thing I've seen rejected is carrots.
Ernest Thompson Seaton was amongest the first writers to record and write about the language of crows and observed, sketched and wrote about his observations of crows in the Don Valley. These birds are amongest the most intellegent creatures on earth. Crows are one the few animals that can make and use tools. Few animals can do that. Dogs have trained people to pick up thier poop in little brown plastic bags but were're not sure if that's a sign of thier inteligence or ours. They not only learn new behavour but pass it on to others in the flock. In Cape Breton, in a national park the learned that rubber windshield wipers on automobiles make excellant nesting material. Removing rubber windshield wipers from parked cars has been a problem for park officials there. In Japan crows adapted wire coathangers as nesting material. Stories of crows adapting to survive in a urban inviroment abound.
Some good reading material on crows have come to print.
"Crows: Encounters With the Wise Guys" by Candace Savage, Greystone Books, Toronto, 2005
"In the Company of Crows and Ravens" by John M. Marzluff and written and illustrated by Tony Angel, Yale University Press, 2005
"The Way of the Crow: Black Spirit" by Laurie Lacey, Nimbus Pub., Halifax 1996.
This last book is small but packed with some great crow stories.

KDM