Our Hmong Neighbors Call Us The "Crow People," I Discovered..

[Hekate]

30. Thanks for my first smile of the day

In my recently-departed neighborhood we had crows, hawks, mockingbirds, hummingbirds, and an abundance of "little brown birds." Only a few blocks away is a wild area with many more species. (I love to spot birds, but my inherent myopia makes it difficult. Nonetheless I have several paperbacks on California coastal birds and over the years have checked off everything I could identify.)

The mockingbirds are very brave for their size -- they will pair up to chase predator-birds away, especially hawks. Crows are harder to chase off, as they hunt in gangs, but I've seen the mockinbirds do it to singles. I've seen crows separate a pair of hawks and chase them from the neighborhood -- it made me worry about the fate of that pair of hawks. Unlike with mockingbirds, seeing a gang of crows go after the hawks seems unfair. The mockingbirds stop after awhile -- the crows didn't.

There's a saying: "a murder of crows." (A pride of lions, a flock of geese, a litter of kittens, a pack of dogs...) If you've ever seen a whole flock descend in your back yard and act as judge, jury, and executioner of one of their own, you will understand. I saw that once as a little kid in the San Fernando Valley.

Our (former) street is lined with liquid ambar trees, and after a strong wind shakes the spiky pods off all over the street the crows take interest. Even better is after the cars have run over the pods and threshed them, so to speak. The crows descend in numbers for easy pickings.

I've read about crow intelligence -- they do seem absolutely amazing.

Our new neighborhood in Ventura is tucked just behind some low foothills. We're just getting used to the abundance of coyotes. (We have a 12 pound dog, and the Tricksters are bold and unafraid.)

The neighbors tell us that there used to be both quail and roadrunners in the area. I'm sorry they departed. I've seen red tailed hawks and turkey buzzards overhead. Inside the hedges I can hear many other birds, but unless they come out from the leaves and twigs I probably will never know what they are. One has a lovely liquid trill. There definitely have to be more species than I have seen so far. I look forward to meeting them.