成人快手

"Come any closer and I'll peck your nose!!"

We've watched this hoodie crow hopping around at the end of the driveway for the past couple of days and we finally had to investigate because I can't stand to see one of God's creatures suffering. We were planning on dispatching the animal to put it out of its misery but to our surprise the crow is incredibly fit! The reason it is hopping about is strange: he is missing the back halves of both wings. It looks as if they were torn off. If you look closely you can see that his wings are far too short - that's what clued us in that something was wrong with the bird. Also, he has an injured leg which he seems to hold against his breast most of the time. He can walk on it though so it is still working. Maybe it will heal?

He's not bleeding and he is very bright and active so hopefully he'll survive! We are guessing that he was hanging around the end of our driveway because that way he could get water from the burn. It's been so dry lately that he would have certainly starved to death or weakened to the point of being caught by a cat. (Brodgar most likely!!)

At the moment we have the critter in our cat carrier and I've been feeding it old bread and scraps. The silly thing has a sweet tooth (sweet beak??) and LOVES hot cross buns and bannanas!!! I highly doubt the animal has seen a bannana before so you can imagine my surprise when he snatched the chunk from my hand as I was pushing it through the bars!! I can see that I'll have to keep sweet things as a Sunday treat or he'll die of junkfood poisoning.

If he lives (she?) then we'll build it a portable cat-and-rat-proof aviary and try our best to give it a good life. While doon sooth I'm going to try and find a large bird water thing and some perches and bright dangly bird toys. I don't believe in caging birds but in this case a cage is the only way to keep the crow out of reach from the rats and barn cats!! In winter he'll have plenty of birdy company in the sheep barn (plus the sheep!) and in summer he can be put out in the yard on bonnie days. Crows are pests but they are also magnificent creatures. They are the most intelligent of the birds. People back home in America have had "pet" crows that learned to talk! They are incredibly social and downright brilliant animals. I've always felt that God would not give us a world filled with stupid and emotionless creatures - that would be sheer cruelty! I delight in the animal kingdom! Hopefully Mr. Crow will live and enjoy an easy life of free food and safety in exchange for his feathery companionship.

P.S. I have another delightful bit of birdy news! Twice now in the past two years I've watched a male Hen Harrier hovering aboot our walled garden! The first time I saw him out of the upstairs bathroom window and yesterday I spotted him from the kitchen window which is right below the bathroom window. I wonder how many times he scopes out the goods in our garden without any of us seeing him?? What a delight it was to see him there! Just as long as he doesn't take a cat...