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Wednesday 10 March 2010

Together: House Crows


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File:House Crows (Corvus splendens) grooming in Kolkata I IMG 4324.jpg





Threat flags unfurled,
raging and apart, thrown
against the bright/dark

field of the world:
the furious raptor, flung

upon the wind. Hunts

alone, to seize
upon accident. A zero

sum game, toted

up unit
by unit. But then
what? Is it not

better, ask the house
crows, to be poor
together?





File:Spizaetus-ornatus-001.jpg



File:Haliaeetus leucocephalus-tree-USFWS.jpg





House crows (Corvus splendens) grooming in Kolkata, West Bengal, India: photo by J.M. Garg, 2007
Juvenile Ornate Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus ornatus), Parque Nacional Darién, Panama): photo by Mdf, 2008
Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus): photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2007

6 comments:

Curtis Roberts said...

Extremely great to see an Indian house crow. I never knew they came in this color. I've been searching unsuccessfully for a New York Times article that was published years ago about crow family life that was just amazing and recounted, among other things, how adult female crows returned to visit their parents and younger siblings and even established regular "baby sitting" appointments. This and the Gilbert White piece made our morning.

TC said...

Thank you Curtis (and Caroline).

That big male house crow surely looks to be experiencing an ecstasy of pleasure in having his cooties plucked.

Now that's what I'd call a successful relationship.

human being said...

poor together
but not hunting alone...

so wise... so true...
and what a beautiful answer
to that story...

you just amaze me!

TC said...

Thank you, hb, for inspiring this whole series of posts (the aviary).

J said...

Ornithologics. The crested hawk-eagle an interesting creature--birders have reported caracaras, a exotic cen. amer. raptor in calif. at times.

I see red-tails, and golden eagles around palmdale and AV at times--even in town, sitting on a light pole or billboard. Maybe they'll they'll organize and attack the hicks and gangstas...

I had heard naturalism of any sort was sort...verboten, TC--revisionism of one sort or another.

Poet Im not, but what would poets, if not writers and artists as a whole do w/o birds?

TC said...

Without birds to lift our eyes, minds, spirits... we'd be sunk deeper into the human mud than ever.