Post by accipiter on Jul 26, 2022 18:53:47 GMT
I’m still glued to the very same spot feeling very much like a permanent feature, a distant relative of Miss Havisham perhaps. But here I am and here I’ll stay complete with a huge number of cobwebs; not to mention spiders practising bungee jumping from the top of my hat. On second thoughts it does have its compensations, in fact someone once said (I know not whom) if you remain in one spot for long enough you will see all the world pass by. I’ve not seen all the world pass by I’m pleased to say but I have seen a great deal in respect of the natural world whilst huddled in a heap within the camouflage netting of this bird hide.
To add some flesh to the bones I’m still studying little owls and have been for some time, in fact from here I can also see the daily behaviour of a pair of Common Buzzards, Sparrow hawks, Carrion Crows, and Jackdaws in some detail. However, Little owls still remain my priority of course but this pair of Carrion Crow plus one still remains most interesting. In point of fact, I’m beginning to believe these are the same three birds I noticed some years back displaying cooperative breeding. In practise the third bird was helping in the feeding of the chicks / juveniles, and did again this year too; making it all the more interesting. Carrion Crows don’t normally live that long say four to five years, but known to live much longer. For instance, the one I kept in my youth lived for nine years. So, either these are not the same three birds or they are, in which case cooperative breeding isn’t that uncommon either at least in some areas, making these three very longed lived birds.
One other thing I should also mention the third bird, (the helper) is quite small in relation to the pair, leaving me to believe it isn’t capable of breeding, an inherited genetic fault perhaps, therefore tolerated by the resident pair. It’s also quite something to believe all three are of the same age (give or take) in which case it’s a conundrum to say the very least; albeit very interesting.
However, something relevant surfaced within my little grey cells from days of yore, and sure enough (from my notes) of 1955 found - Carrion Crow’s nest three adults in attendance third bird notably smaller. And again in 1957 and again from 1989 same reference. I wasn’t really interested in corvids then but rather Sparrow hawks which I did find successfully breeding in all three of these years; and subsequently in every year since 1989.
Nonetheless, interested in corvids or not something told me I should record those odd facts and I’m glad I did now, all thanks to my elder brother and my Fathers old copy of the Observer’s Book of Birds, and Birds Eggs.
Alan