Quirky Corvid Stories

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Hiya,

It is a lovely story indeed.

I do have also a very similar story, not with rooks but with jacdaws.

It was a Saturday afternoon, when our neighbour showed us a baby jacdaw, apparently the little jack (this is how i named it) somehow made its way to their living room. He put it on the branch of a tree, but few minutes after that, it fell. Little jack was nonetheless managed to escape us once on foot. Unfortunately, the neighbour cat also saw little jack and start chasing it, and little jack went to the garden of another neighbour. I ran as fast as I ever ran to get little jack away from the claws of the cat, went to the neighbour garden out of breath “please please there is a little jack in the back of your garden”, we all dashed to their garden and it is their daughter who helped us catch it. Luckily the cat didn’t touch it.

We decided to take little jack to the safe spot in our garden (we have a plastic fence of about 1.5m high that divide our garden in two zone,  and that seems enough to deter the neighbour cat from the first half of our garden, the part next to our house)and we were monitoring it. Its parents and all its relatives were looking for it, they finally smelt it, the problem was that little jack decided to hide in our shrubs, so although the parents could sense its presence, they would no be able to see it. So many time, we took him out of the shrubs and put it in the middle of the lawn. As soon as we stepped in our garden, we were attacked by the jackdaws who saw us a big big predators. Although they could see little jack, the jackdaws would not dare venture to this area of our garden (maybe too close to the house). So they would keep flying over him, again and again asking him to fly. But little jack left the nest too early and could not fly. Night was approaching and little jack hadn’t been fed for about 7hour or so. So once all the jack went to sleep, we took him home for the night. But little jack would not eat. The next morning, its parents and family were looking for him. Little jack was a little bit more adventurous  this time, showing himself, but still could not fly. Its parents decided to give him a feed and tried very hard to get him to fly. But the smart little jack, found its way out of the safe zone, he decided, to walk underneath the plastic fence (even the neighbour cat didn’t come up with that). And little jack followed its parents on foot. We were so worried, so many cats are around our house. But its parents were so desperate to have him back. We let it go. Eventually i hear lots of jacks calling, I ran to the garden, and the neighbour cat was after little jack. The family were attacking the cats the best they could, so many of them, that the cats got scared and ran away. It was the evening, and the neighbour was already asleep so we could not get to it, nor see whether it was safe or not.  I had trouble sleeping that night, knowing little jack spending the night on the ground with the cats and foxes that live around us. But surprisingly enough, the next morning, I went to feed the birds and little jack was on the ground staring at me. Little jack was still alive. For a few days, we could hear little jack calling, we managed to recognise its baby call (it was also the only baby out of the nest at this time). One morning I saw this little jack bouncing on my first floor window, saying hello maybe, and back to a tall tall tree. Little jack made it, it was flying and happy with its loving family. And I may even be feeding little jack now, although that is impossible to tell.

All these jackdaws risked their life for this one single little jack to be able to one day join the social group. I never look at a jack the same way now, they are awesome parents.

Sorry, if it is a bit of a long story, but there wasn’t a way I could better summarise it. Hope you will enjoy it.

Hi.

Totally brilliant stories and I'm so glad that they had happy endings.  The best corvid tale I can come up with is from when I was working as a gardener in a hotel in Cumbernauld, near glasgow.  One day I heared a loud cawing noise from a few hundred yards away and looked round to see a carion crow mobbing a black cat.  The cat certainly looked as if it had been told in no uncertain terms where to go.  I know groups of crows will mob birds of prey but I'd never seen a single crow mob a cat.

Paul

Wow, that is indeed rather impressive, a single crow attacking a cat.

I have another story about a corvid, a crow this time, little one. It was in San Diego. We saw this little one on a pile of compost, in a spot that was dedicated for walking dogs so they could do their business, so not the safest place.  It could not fly and looked rather weak. We encouraged it to walk to another area where it was a bit safer and with a few neighbours we were monitoring it. Its 2 parents were following us and realised that we were trying to help so they didnt mind us. But as the night approached, little one still would not follow its parents so we took it home. We tried to feed little one, to start it would not eat and was extremely weak. But eventually it had a few little snacks. The next day, we put little one out on the balcony hoping that it would call its parents. we could see/hear its parents looking for it, they eventually found it and flew around our balcony. But little one didnt look too good, very weak, not calling at all, not eating anything, so we took it to the closest wildlife rescue centre. But unfortunately, it was too late, little one had been under severe starvation and could not make it. At least they took its life humanely. I was so sad, it was on my last day of holidays. It was such a sweet little crow.

The San diegan told me a lovely story about crows, it appears that they are very smart birds: apparently the San Diegan crows that find very dry uneatable piece of bread would take the piece of bread to a source of water, let it becomes a bit more tender before they can eat it and enjoy it. I found that pretty cool. It shows some serious  intelligence.

Well, I am quite amazed by corvids I guess and i hope more and more people will appreciate them. Awesome birds.

Fantastic stories every one, really lovely.

Isabel  I do love your efforts to help the birds in your garden and also when you travel. 

Your story about birds soaking hard food before eating - I've seen the Jackdaws that visit our garden in winter do exactly the same.  when I put sultanas out, most of which are soaked but some may not be as soft as others.  I have seen the jackdaws pick the harder ones up,  drop them in the bird bath, stand guard on the edge and then pick them out.  Quite amazing really.

Great stories everyone!

Here is my corvid tale...

I came home (can't remember where I'd been) and heard a right racket coming from outside so I headed upstairs to see what was going on.  I couldn't believe it when I saw ELEVEN jackdaws chasing a single cat (that is known to chase and kill birds may I add)!  They were really meaning business as they dive-bombed the cat aiming for it's head and eyes, what the cat had done to upset them I have no idea!  They chased the cat under our hedge but the jackdaws were landing on the grass looking beneath to see where the cat had gone.  At some point though, the cat did manage to slip away unnoticed.

Afterwards, I made special effort in attracting the anti-cat mob into the garden by providing whole nuts which only they could deal with, though they did have a habit of cracking them on the roof and leaving the remains in the gutter!  Have to say, that cat never did dare enter the garden when the jackdaws were on site!  They stopped the cat in one fell swoop while I had spent ages trying to find a way of stopping the cat.  Now I know why the smaller birds used to come rushing in when the jackdaws were about!

I know a crow named Louis the ASBO Crow who lives at our local wildlife rescue. He was captured after breaking into people's houses and even a supermarket, hence the name.

I also have a friend with a jackdaw who was terrorising the local school until my friend took him in. Every day he flies free in the local neighbourhood with the other jackdaws, but at the end of every day he comes home to sleep in his cage in the house. He loves to steal objects and drop them down the chimney, and was once spotted parading on the roof with a pair of my friend's knickers, stolen from the washing line!

What fabulous stories - please keep them coming. Love the knickers story!!

I love my Jackdaws and the way they come in pairs and help each other out. I have one pair who are both disabled. One only has one eye, and the other has a broken beak. The top beak is broken and bent upwards. Poor thing, but he does look cute and manages to feed normally, if a bit slowly. The one-eyed one turns his head round at an amazing angle to keep a look out whilst his mate is feeding, then they swap over and the other keeps watch. I just wonder how they ended up like that, and whether they were defending a baby from a predator.

Hi Maisie

What a fantastic story - I laughed so hard!  Sounds a real character.  Spose she was lucky he didn't try to drop them down the chimney !