Limpy survived another winter !!

Some of you may remember my little story about a wounded crow that showed up in our yard in April 2015.  His one wing was almost dragging on the ground and he had a bad leg.  Poor guy was in a bad way.

I put out some food for him and he flopped over to get it and had a drink in my bird bath and hung around.....

Later, I noticed that he took food into a tree across the street and climbed up the branches like they were steps... hopping and flapping and managing to get up pretty high.... and then, sort of sailed across to the nearest tree without even having to really fly.  He and the missus had built a nest there... and for weeks he did that to help feed her .. he worked like a poor, crippled Trojan for weeks.  I almost cried to watch it.  And, I was damned if I would let him down...I put out food whenever he was on the ground.  It was my job.

He would sail down again to our yard and get some more ...as often as I would go out and give him some more goodies.  He recuperated quite a bit and the wing got stronger...he was able to fly short distances if he got scared or felt threatened.   His lady came down every so often and shared some food or visited with him and they sat together on the lawn or in the big tree across the street.

In the fall... she and the "kids" talked to him a lot in the Poplar... and maybe he even tried to go a short distance with them...but, in the end.... they left.  He was unable to go with them.  Later I noticed another smaller crippled crow would show up with him from time to time and then... when the snows came...they disappeared.  I didn't see him for months.  I read up on crows and discovered that they migrate to Kansas or Oklahoma from here in Canada.  Wow....that is a long way south of us.

The cripples and misfits have to stay and hang together during the winter if they can't fly south.  I had no idea if he would last the winter...it gets down to -35C and 40C  around here .... with plenty of snow... this year we still have 4 feet out there ....... but lo and behold... that first spring he showed up in the Poplar across the street...looking pretty darn good... and just hanging out.  I didn't realize for 3 days that he was just waiting for his lady.  Then, she and a few young crows showed up.. and he brought them all down onto the front sidewalk to show his family off and I tossed out some goodies and they all hopped around gathering up things.  They hung around for a day and then... seemed to disappear.

Later I noticed the two of them flying around, gathering twigs and building just down the street.  Apparently they don't use the same nest a second time..they make new ones but in close proximity to the old one.

So, this is the 3rd spring he has shown up and waited patiently for his lifelong mate to show up from her migration trip.  He was here at the beginning of the week... ... hanging out...waiting for his special lady.  I got a bit worried that this year she wasn't coming...but she showed up the other day... whew!

Last year some big usurper crow and his long legged woman set up camp in the tree across our back alley... I call him the Back Alley Crow... and he bullies poor Limpy.  Because he is crippled I guess.   So, poor Limpy and the Missus had to move further toward the golf course... and build there.   They managed to raise some more babies in spite of the ongoing dive bombings from the Bullies... and, they don't come to the yard much... as a matter of fact...I only got to hear him calling me from the tree every so often last year and sometimes when I went golfing...he hopped over to me to share my peanut butter sandwich.  He even recognizes me out of context.  Crows are soooo smart.

He was sitting on a big snowdrift in the front yard for several days til the bully came home from holidays...but, now... he only sneaks in on occasion.   It was such fun to see him peeking into the front window and sliding down the snowbank to get his little bits of chicken and snacks for the few days ...but, I miss him now as he has had to move a bit further away due to the antics of the bully.  If only I could tell them apart before I see my guy on the ground...I could toss things at the wrong "guy" ...but, I can't tell for sure til I see his funny 'hopping' gait ....


The first day I heard and saw him...last week... through the blinds... couldn't  believe he was there sitting on top of the huge four foot snowbank.

   






Here is the size of the snowbanks still around...


He soon had a little trail of footprints up and down the bank...

He had a few days of fun before the other bully crow showed up ... just ahead of his little lady, and then... they had to spend more time out of the front yard than in it.  He still shows up and lands on the privacy fence or the snow bank just to say hi and see if I sprint out with some bits of pork or chicken or some bit of something for him to carry off.
Limpy is a lot of fun.

Here he is the spring of 2016 ...April.... peeking in the window when he showed up after being with the local group all winter... checking if I still lived here and wondering if I remembered I was supposed to toss out some snacks.  Cheeky boy!  Now each spring I look for him as much as he checks on me.

Limp got mad...

..when some darn starling stole one of his crumbs that he dropped while trying to reorganize a beak full to carry off to the babies.
When he got back to the fence and saw it had been stolen, he looked around... muttered something I couldn't quite make out and jumped down into the bird bath where he began vigorously swishing his head back and forth.  This is his usual bath...only the head..  as it is difficult for him to bend his damaged leg I think.  He looked up... stepped on the edge and ... usually he hops right off.  Not this time.  Back he went and really went to town.... he splashed like crazy to get it all out of his system.

I've decided crows are pretty patient.  The starlings make their lives hell... really they do.  They dive bomb them, peck at them in flight and on the ground as well...they steal their crumbs.. they never shut up either with the darn TICK TICKing....... it makes me crazy, but not Limpy and his wife  ... although, he is a bit more patient than his 'missus'.  Sometimes she makes noises and flies at them every so often...but, he just quietly says "awwww".... in his little voice., like ..oh, man..not again......

He has a loud voice when he needs it..but mostly just mutters, or chatters or quietly voices his displeasure and/or opinion.   He talks to me while I garden too... wandering around with his limpy gait... hoping for a few sun flower seeds from time to time.  He doesn't get too close and I don't blame him... who knows how he got injured.  Maybe it was a person who hurt him.

I've been indulging them ..helping them to feed the babies.... but, I've cut back and hope to let them teach the babies not to beg ... he is a good provider (even if he is disabled) and she is a fierce and capable Mom.  I can hear the babies in the tree now..but, they are not out of the nest yet.  Probably won't be long...they say 35 days ... it's been several weeks since they began taking food to the nest.

I'm dreading winter ... I've read that they do migrate.  Ours from Alberta apparently go to Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. How will he fly that far with a damaged wing and leg and whatever else is making him limp and not fly right?

I've even gotten to the point where I wonder if a small doghouse nailed to my fence would work as a winter house for him if he can't go away.   I wonder if he might use it.   Mister BV is wondering if I want it heated and decorated nicely too..... hmmm....


Sometimes I attempt a bit of humour in return...but, it's probably going to end badly for him..... and it's already making me a bit sad to think on it.




Linking up to Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday.

They're lovebirds!

My crow couple... they really aren't crows at all.   I caught them sitting in the poplar one evening.... kissing....

I call them Limpy and the Missus most of the time, but sometimes I call her Big Girl..... because she is.  She is big, beautiful and fierce.... she has large feet and sturdy long legs...and seems  so much larger than Limpy.  His legs are pretty skinny and his one wing droops down at what I am calling his shoulder.... poor guy.  But, he does get around pretty well even with is disabilities.

She is amazing on the wing... even a squirrel zigzagging across the street could hardly stay ahead of her.  He zigged, she zigged.... he zagged, she zagged ...   she almost managed to catch his upraised tail...oooohh... they hate squirrels with a passion.  I don't know if squirrels would dare to raid a crow's nest ... but, maybe ...   All I know is ... if they see one, they give chase ..  even if they see one half a block away!  Where was the camera that day.  I would have had to be some kind of speedy to catch any of it!

Limpy is a little less graceful in his attempts to get rid of intruders and interlopers ... this is more his favourite position.  Sitting outside my window ... keeping a beady eye on me. ..

but if anybody comes near "his" food board...or "his" bird bath water.... in "his" yard, he gives awkward flapping, hopping and jumping chase.   Between them, this pair of crows gets rid of Starlings, squirrels, magpies, and small hawks..... in their quest to raise their babies.  I don't mind at all that he keeps other big or annoying birds away.  The little birds don't mind him and his Missus at all.  The sparrows are even cheeky enough to steal his seeds off the board I set out for the crows.  The chickadees don't care about any other birds... they come ..do their thing and go... as they please.

He has become somewhat stronger ... he doesn't use the tree for climbing up to their nest anymore.  He manages to get airborne and onto a neighbouring rooftop...and, from there, up to the nest.   They try to switch with each other so they don't leave the nest unguarded for any length of time.  Unlike the darn robins in the photo below ... they left their nest unguarded .... and, .... oh, no..... Mister Limpy did a BAD, BAD thing!!  He got up to the robin nest and stole an egg.....ohhhhh...I feel bad now...... Here he is ..caught in the act.  Only because I wondered what he was up to sitting on the big plant pot arrangement on the front steps of the neighbour's house and got the camera to check through the zoom lens....... I was shocked to see him do it.  I suppose I shouldn't have been...but, I was.

I'm finking on him and linking up to  Wild Bird Wednesday ....   click on the photo below if you would like to see all sorts of beautiful and interesting birds....

Limpy and the Missus

Never mind about "stone the crows" ....the neighbours will probably stone me if they see me feeding a handicapped crow and its mate.  But, they likely won't  .... have you noticed how unobservant most folks are these days?  Too busy coming and going and "doing" to notice the little things all around them.

One day I noticed something.  A crow with a limp.  More like a goose step ..which I thought was pretty funny initially and I sort of made fun of him .. til I realized he couldn't really fly much either.   Then, I quit calling him Goose and took to calling him Limpy.  Mr. BV calls him Gimpy.

Anyway.... he and another crow ...which has to be the little lady... (because I read that the males don't actually sit on the nest) have a nest across the street in a spruce tree.  They may have just eggs at this point or there could already be little babies...  all I know is .. she is spending most of her time on or near the nest.
Every so often when I toss out some goodies for Mr. Limpy.. he calls to her and she flies down to share a bit of his grub.  He comes to just under the window when I toss things out for them and gathers up as much of it as he can in one beak-full and sprints off about 20 feet to bury it in the garden or in the lawn.  He plucks a little pile of grass to tamp down on top of it or puts 3 pieces of small bark or mulch on it in the garden.  So clever.  He always remembers where he puts it too...I've watched him re-open the cache and retrieve things later in the day.  Even though he is handicapped, he is doing his very best to look out for the two of them.

They must be a young couple .. they don't seem to have any other crow "helpers at the nest" as they call them in the info I found.  Other females that help the breeding female.  They can be other older babies that are still with the parents... apparently they can, and do, stay for 2 to 7 years with the parents... ..

I read that their mainstay is usually earthworms...who knew? ... but, I toss out good home made seed bread bits for them...along with a bit of meat or whatever else we are having for supper.  He is definitely not a vegetarian.... won't eat fruit or veggies.... hah!  and I thought they were scavengers ...which I also thought meant they would eat anything and everything.  NOT!  These two prefer meat and carbs it seems....

So, I read up on what they do eat and some person has made lists... they included "egg yolk" ..... mine will eat egg whites ... because I tossed him some of my brekky the other day and that was what I was having.  He loves it.  So, already he is out of character... and, he loves my home made bread best.... hahahaha..... silly old thing.......well, maybe he is not that old.

He is a pretty smart guy.  He can't just fly up into his own tree where the nest is ...but, he has a method of getting close.   He hops onto a low hanging branch of the tree near it, walks up it to the sturdy area of the branch ...hops up to the next one and the next and by doing so he can climb up about 25 to 30 feet high... pretty quickly.  The mate comes to meet him and he shares with her the food he has taken  ... and, then, he steps out to the edge of a branch, jumps off and sails down onto the ground..usually in my front yard or garden.  Or, if he climbs higher yet...he can manage to fly around off the one tree into the nest tree...or even onto a roof top and then into a big poplar tree next to the climbing tree.  He gets around pretty good still, but I'm sure it is taxing for him.

And, if need be... he can take part in action to ward off large intruders... like yesterday, when all of sudden about 12 crows materialized out of nowhere, chasing an eagle.  Limpy stopped dead, .. ran out to the street flapping like crazy, managed to get airborne, just made it over the neighbour's fence and then... managed a big circle and up, up into a poplar.  And, then... Limp and the Missus landed together on a poplar in the golf course directly behind houses across the street (same tree the eagle chose) to add their presence to the confrontation.   ... yay for the Gimp!   He may be handicapped, but he is my new little hero!  What a commotion!!  They all continued with the raucous tirade til the eagle left for parts unknown.  Then all the crows left too... except Limpy and the Missus.  She went back to her nest and he hung out in the poplar ....resting...................... or maybe just afraid to be on the ground again for a bit.... didn't want to be a victim of any eagle hunting I bet.

And, look... they are still lovebirds..   this time when she flew down... she crouched down and offered him her head ....which he then preened for her.  They sat like this for several minutes ....

She embarrasses him a bit when they come to the table together...she jumps right in with wild abandon and food bits go flying in all directions .... sometimes he just steps back, sighs, looks skyward and then shakes his head and just starts to gather up her mess.  Other times he marches up, steps in, and makes her behave.... hahahaha...it's pretty funny to see.......

That's him on the right.... taking charge this time.....but, mostly he is an old softie... let's her get away with murder......

I don't know if he will get any better or if it is permanent injury to his right side ...  and, I dread to think of him in the cold of winter...but, for now...I just know I feel happy to be able to help him with his job of looking after his little family.

As soon as  Wild Bird Wednesday is up ..... tomorrow ........I will be linking up to that once again.... haven't been doing any bird photos lately.... but, do check out the others photos and birds of all sorts some day you have the chance.