The Crow

Today it was a sunny day, so I did some more birdwatching with my dog. We make a strong duo, with his attention drawn to anything in the yard that moves and my recently learned identification skills. There’s a small feeder in my yard that my dad fills each morning, making sure to always replace the suet to attract woodpeckers. I saw the normal feeder visitors like the cardinal, the chickadee, and the occasional bluebird. I even spotted the red-bellied woodpecker on several occasions, enticed by the suet in the small cages on either end of the feeder. Though the suet attracts woodpeckers, once in a while it also brings some unwanted visitors such as raccoons or, for today, crows.

The large black bird swept in from nowhere, perching on top of the feeder and sending the smaller birds fluttering off. The crow immediately went for the suet, tearing off large chunks and consuming them immediately. I was reminded of years ago, when my dad would chase crows from the feeder. “They’ll scare off the other birds,” he would say. “They always take all of the suet.” I didn’t think much of it back then, but upon seeing the crow today I began to question why he chased them off in the first place. Isn’t the purpose of the suet to be eaten by birds? And was the crow I saw today really less of a hungry bird than any of the other feeder visitors who are welcomed?

The American Crow is thought to be among the most intelligent birds, though we have always given them a negative association. Perhaps this connotation stems from their hoarse voices, or the image of them perched and feeding on rotting roadkill on the side of the highway. Perhaps it comes from old folklore that suggests they can sense death, or the fact that a crow always seems to make it into the scene of a haunted house. We have even termed a large group of crows “a murder.” My dad claimed the reason he chased off the crows was that they bullied the other birds. Though my family is far from superstitious, I think it was more than that.

I thought about all of these things as I watched the crow take chunk after chunk of suet. I realized that the crow had come to eat its fill just like any other bird that comes to the feeder. I could understand why other birds were scared off - the crow was large in comparison even to the woodpecker, with black ruffled feathers and a long, pointed beak. But nonetheless, I held my dog back from scaring it off.