eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

The shot above is of our cat Toby partaking in one of his morning games - "Let's explore the refrigerator". It's a silly game really in that he doesn't like anything in the fridge, but it's part of a set of games he uses to communicate. He has an elaborate pattern we're still trying to pin down. Play/groom in the morning, sleep in the day, play at night, then sleep and repeat the process. If he's frustrated or mad, he retreats to a corner. If he wants to initiate a new series of games, Toby slinks under the TV. There's a rug for particularly exciting games or exciting things. All told, there are over a dozen games/locations. But all seem to revolve one key element: spatial communication.

Now, let's extrapolate that sort of behavior/communication to birds - in particular, the corvids (our local crows). We all know that there are times when the birds frequent the feeders. But that's not what I'm talking about. Crows seem to have their own sort of patterns just like Toby. In the mornings they caw from the eastern side of the house. As the sun moves westward, so do the crows. OK, given the Corvid's intelligence, behavior patterns shouldn't be too surprising. However, there are two perceived tendencies that are a little creepy in a Hitchcockian sort or way. The first is they seem to watch us quite frequently. From time to time the wife or I will pass by the glass slider or walk into the kitchen and there will be a crow standing on top of the bird house just staring at us. The second habit tends to be a bit more freakish. Twice I've been cleaning the gutters and discovered rocks on the roof. I mean come on, I know crows leave stuff around, but rocks? (Here's a great article about animals at play.)

Anyway, my assertion is that animals like Toby and the crows do communicate not just by the obvious vocal means but also by spacial location and play. Love to hear from others concerning this stuff...

I'll be standing over at the feeder's six o'clock with my jacks...

CapeCodAlan

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