okay uhh … i’m going to do my best to describe what has just happened in my presence, to me, and im gonna post this on my proper blog so i can link to it without linking to my personal
anyhow
so i head out a little over an hour before time of writing and i make it as far as the intersection at the top of the hill when i hear a crow cawing really loudly
i, being myself, it being a beautiful mid-morning, having just sat on the shore of a lake calm enough that no waves were breaking at all, decide to stop for a sec, enjoy the morning air, and stop to see what this crow’s up to.
i guess people don’t usually do that and it immediately took interest in me because of it, i guess. it jumped down a few branches till it was directly over me and then began to intently and precisely snap twigs with leaves on them and drop them down, so they caught the air and helicoptered down, into my hands. i identified it immediately as play behavior, since there was always a moment where the crow watched to see if i caught it after it was thrown.
once this crow caught on to the fact that i was ready and willing to play this twig drop game, i could hear it adjust its caw, and sure enough, a second crow that had i guess been paying attention or half-paying-attention from a tall tree across the intersection swooped directly over to the branch beside the first one, with no hesitation in direction whatsoever, and then immediately started playing the twig drop game too.
assuming that there wasn’t enough time to transmit any complex instructions, presumably they were both familiar with the game, although they weren’t exactly seasoned pros, either, because they both kept intently trying to ‘woodpecker’ branches that were too big for their beaks to reasonably break off without the twisting motion they can snap smaller branches with.
presumably they were just a little over-eager.
i spent a good hour on that corner, neck craned up, and they were just as fixated on the moment as i was. i’ve never seen two crows brimming with enthusiasm like these ones were. after a while they were just sort of yelling at each other and at me, but they didn’t seem angry at any point, they didn’t try to drive me away. in fact, to be sure of that, i intentionally faked having lost interest a couple of times and walked in either directions. they both followed without hesitation to land in branches above me.
like i said, i spent a good hour there. i came home with a handful of twigs and branches, plucked out of the air, given to me intentionally by a pair of crows. i don’t know if the idea that i would keep the twigs and leaves ever crossed their minds or if it was just the simple thrill of watching them fall and be caught by one of the big weird walking ones who don’t really ever interact with you. but i *could* understand a lot of the other cues they were giving me. we were interacting, we had taken mutual interest in each other and, essentially, broadcast that interest to each other.
i had no idea when or how the interaction would end but at some point, one of the crows i guess had some other business elsewhere and took off abruptly, the other stayed but fell back vertically, to a rooftop, i figured they were both done, so just for closure i nodded and parted ways as well (crows don’t nod and probably don’t understand nodding – that was just out of habit)
anyway i had a big bundle of twigs and leaves in my hands and i wasn’t going to continue downtown and get breakfast carrying them so i 180′d and headed back down the hill home, sort of baffled at the real thing that had just transpired in my life.
i didn’t realize that on the way down the hill i’d be crossing the second one’s line of sight on the rooftop again until i was in the clearing where that would happen, and just as i wondered if the second crow would watch me walk home or not i felt an abrupt rush of air and heard feathers ruffle behind the nape of my neck, and i just immediately turned to the tree across from me where he landed and just flat out said “oh my god” out loud, but like the “don’t do it–oh my god” brand of oh my god. he flew back to the roof and i just walked home in absolute disbelief and it still feels a little bit like a dream.
you know what i also have among the sticks and leaves? one of them dropped a crow feather. i was paying attention to the other when it happened so i don’t know if it was already hanging loose or what, but the one who dropped it sure did watch me with the same intent as i went to pick it up. anyhow, now i have this bundle of stuff that crows gave me:
pay … attention to crows. that’s all. wow. over and out.
