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On The Wild Side Crows are remarkable birds

Ann B okel an

is an avid birder and nature photographer

naturephotosbyann.blogspot.ca

WHEN PEOPLE ask me about birds, I often forget about, and then feel silly for forgetting about, crows.

However, it would be silly to ignore the intelligence and interesting behaviours of these remarkable birds.

They aren’t just smart, they are extremely intelli gent.

They can hide food and re member where they’ve left it, even if they’ve moved it to two or three different loca tions.

They have excellent mem ories and are very good at remembering the people who are either kind, or an tagonistic to them.

If you search for this on line, you’ll find anecdotes of people who have left food out for crows and then had the crows respond by bringing them gifts, such as beads, buttons, or even the occa sional earring in return.

You may have heard that a group of crows is called a murder, but why is that?

Well, I don’t think anyone knows for sure, but it is be lieved to be based on old folk tales and superstition.

Crows, as carrion eat ers, have been symbolically linked with death for cen turies, so perhaps the name originated when some peo ple noticed that crows were always milling about the de ceased, and decided to blame the death, (murder), on the crows themselves.

Adult crows have a harsh caw-caw sound but they also can make around 20 different vocalizations.

Some other calls are the harsh ‘scold’, the female courting ‘rattle/knock’ call, the juvenile begging sound and clicks, coos, grunts and rattles.

Their brain is similar in size to a parrot, and, just like a parrot, they can be taught to mimic our own words.

Crows are omnivores which mean they eat nearly anything, including: insects, seeds, fruit, worms, other birds, and any carrion they find laying on the side of the road. Crows are part of the Corvidae family which in cludes ravens, jays, magpies and nutcrackers.

Just the other day I was driving down to the beach when I saw and heard a fam ily of crows in a parking lot, cawing. I pulled into the lot and decided to watch for a bit.

One crow flew in with food, (a large bug), to give to a young crow. The vocal sound of the chick eating got my attention.

It is really hard to de scribe, but it was fluttering their wings and making the “waaah, waaahhh” sound that roughly translates to “feed me, feed me”! The beg ging sound never stopped…

PHOTO: ANN BROKELMAN A young crow looking to be fed.

poor parent!

Once the chick was done eating he began pecking at the adult, begging for more food. The mouth of the chick was very pink and he had bright blue eyes. The adult then flew off to look for more food for the chick.

I was treated to a few more feedings but, unfortunately, had no camera in the car. (The fact that ‘I didn’t have a camera on me’ may be the most shocking thing I’ve ever written.)

And I saved one of my favourite procrow points for last: if you hear crows cawing loudly, and repeatedly, there’s a very good chance that there is a hawk or owl nearby.

The crows don’t like having them around and will loudly do their best to chase them away. I would have missed out on hundreds of owl and hawk sight ings if it weren’t for the help of crows.

Over the next few months the Ontario raptors (hawks, ea gles, falcons, ospreys, turkey vultures and harriers) will be mi grating along the Scarborough Bluffs and Lake Ontario.

If you find yourself near the water, and hear a repeated “cawcaw”, take a minute to look around you. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see something being chased by the crow.

Enjoy the end of summer everyone!

Beach Metro News AGM slated for Sept. 29

THE ANNUAL General Meeting of Ward 9 Community News Inc. (publisher of Beach Metro Commu nity News) will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 starting at 7 p.m.

Due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the need for social distancing, this meeting will be held online.

Details on how to take part on line will be provided closer to the date.

The purpose of this meeting is to hear reports from the board of di rectors and staff, to hold elections for the 2020-2021 board, and to up date the newspaper’s constitution to reflect minor changes that have happened since the last update in 2009.

This meeting is open only to members of the newspaper asso ciation. The constitution defines membership as:

“1. Any resident of the com munity where the newspaper is distributed, who is willing to sup port the aims and objectives of the organization, will be accepted into membership on payment of the current year’s fees ($2.00) and will be a member in good standing and will be eligible to vote if in atten dance at the annual and general meetings as long as the current year’s fees are paid. 2. No member shall be under the age of sixteen. 3. All members of the distribu tion team, who have worked with the team for a minimum of six months (since March 29, 2020) shall be given an automatic membership in the Ward 9 Community News Inc. for the current year. There are two provisos: a). Where the distributor is un der age, the membership will be in the name of a parent or guardian. b) Only one free membership will be allowed per family.”

Memberships will be for sale at the newspaper office until seven days before the AGM (up to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22).

Nominations: Three of the four elected board members (Desmond Brown, Doug Black and Mary Beth Denomy) are willing and eligible to continue serving on the board. There is no remuneration for being a board member.

Board members oversee general operations but are not involved in the daily activities, news coverage or production.

The election process is described in the constitution:

“Election of officers shall be held at the annual meeting.

Nomination for officers of the organization shall be received in writing, addressed to the news paper’s secretary (Mary Beth Denomy) at least 14 days before the annual meeting (by Sept. 15). Nominations should be accompa nied by a description of the nominee’s background with regard to the organization and the general community, together with the sig natures of the nominee and the nominator.

The names of those seeking of fice, together with a brief biography, will be published in the issue of Beach Metro Community News immediately preceding the annual meeting (Sept. 22) in order that the membership be able to weigh the merits of each candidate and vote accordingly. Notice of the final dates for receiving nominations shall be published in the two is sues immediately preceding that date (Aug. 25 and Sept. 8).

Nominees for the board and nominators shall be members of the Ward 9 Community News Inc.”