There are lots of crows in Portland. All over the place. I sometimes share crumbled dog treats with them. My wife doesn't like this. She thinks the few crumbled treats I give them will somehow cause the crow population to increase to untenable levels which will cause I guess a great crow die-off. I think that's unlikely but she does have a PhD, so I try to pay attention.
One of our neighborhood friends also feeds the crows & some of them (or maybe just one of them) will ride on her head while she walks her dog. I am not that committed to the crows. Sometimes they swoop very close to me to remind me to crumble a dog treat so they can fight over it & increase their population to untenable levels. I don't enjoy the swooping. I don't encourage it. If I thought it would help to tell them I won't crumble a dog treat for them if they swoop close to me, as a kind of threat I guess, I would do it, but of course they don't understand English.
They are pretty smart, though. They recognize me for the treat crumbler I am. & they will take the harder pieces to puddles to dip them in so they can soften them. Heck, my dogs aren't that smart!
Recently a radio acquaintance told me he had visited Texas & hated the grackles there. It occurred to me that I hadn't thought about grackles for a very long time though I encountered them daily when I worked at the University Of Texas. In my mind, they weren't all that different from crows & I thought they might be related. But nope! They're not. I will admit that I have been shat up by both grackles & crows, & the experience was unpleasant no matter the bird.
You may be asking what this has to do with a radio show about the bayou. Well, uh. I guess there are crows in the bayou? Or at least grackles?
One of our neighborhood friends also feeds the crows & some of them (or maybe just one of them) will ride on her head while she walks her dog. I am not that committed to the crows. Sometimes they swoop very close to me to remind me to crumble a dog treat so they can fight over it & increase their population to untenable levels. I don't enjoy the swooping. I don't encourage it. If I thought it would help to tell them I won't crumble a dog treat for them if they swoop close to me, as a kind of threat I guess, I would do it, but of course they don't understand English.
They are pretty smart, though. They recognize me for the treat crumbler I am. & they will take the harder pieces to puddles to dip them in so they can soften them. Heck, my dogs aren't that smart!
Recently a radio acquaintance told me he had visited Texas & hated the grackles there. It occurred to me that I hadn't thought about grackles for a very long time though I encountered them daily when I worked at the University Of Texas. In my mind, they weren't all that different from crows & I thought they might be related. But nope! They're not. I will admit that I have been shat up by both grackles & crows, & the experience was unpleasant no matter the bird.
You may be asking what this has to do with a radio show about the bayou. Well, uh. I guess there are crows in the bayou? Or at least grackles?
