MARVIN, MAVIS & LUCKY
The quickest way to tell if the crows in the garden or alley are Norman and Nancy or Marvin, Mavis and Lucky is to do a quick head count. Lucky is staying very close to mom and dad, even though he’s now almost two years old.
As we’ve seen in previous posts, they’ve got a solid family strategy of outnumbering and out-cawing the local competition (most Norman and Nancy) so they’re not messing with success.
I’m not sure where they are nest building — but I don’t think they’re as far along as Bongo and Bella as I still see all three of them every day, so Mavis isn’t yet sitting on eggs.
When we were at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary earlier this spring one of the volunteers was talking about the family of Sandhill Cranes out there. The resident couple still have their colt from two springs ago (he’s called Evan) and he mentioned that having a fledgling around can actually impede the established pair’s mating process as the young one wants to get in the the act (the cranes to a very wonderful wing-flapping mating dance.) The teenager wants to join in and doesn’t know when three’s a crowd. I’m not sure this applies to crows though, but Marvin and Mavis didn’t have a new fledgling last year …
So many things I can hardly wait to get caught up on when we get back from our trip!
That’s the final update for the local crows, although I could ramble on about Barry and Beryl, who live on the berry tree street …
… and Angelo and Angela …
… but, oh dear, only so much time before we have to head to the airport, so they’ll have to wait until later.
I’ll try to post a little from the UK if I manage to sight and British Corvids.
If not, look for more local crow updates in late May!
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