Another Morning in Paradise
06 September 2024: Hurricane Hill (1,100 feet), White River Jct, Vermont
5:47 a.m.: 48 degrees, wind SE 2 mph. As the world awakens, low clouds skim above the worn-green landscape, corrugations softened by humidity—duller by degrees than yesterday. Cloud congestion weaves through the New Hampshire ridgeline, the output of a thoughtless river; hills poke through like fog-bound islands. Pastel colors across the east and north, primarily pinks and yellows, everything else blue-gray or soiled white. The blockade of sunrise, measured by the songs of crickets and katydids, the hum of southbound cars. Seventeen species of birds, including two warblers (common yellowthroat and black-throated green); brown creeper; hermit thrush; a mob of common grackles, low over the treetops; and a lonesome female ruby-throated hummingbird, back and forth from lilac to feeder, the pergola all to herself.
An army of goldenrod and Jerusalem artichokes brightens what the sun doesn't (which is pretty much everything).
When I left home, the crows at roost cawed in gray light. Disembodied voices planning for the day:
Where to go.
What to do.
How to spend an early September morning below the flow of southbound birds and above the shadows of napping owls.
Whatever the crows decide, I support their decision. Coal-black and Mensa-brilliant crows (by sheer numbers) rule the hillside, conversing, discovering, raiding, and applying simple solutions to complicated problems. Like us, crows are omnivorous, live across various landscapes—coast-to-coast and from the Gulf of Alaskan to the Florida Everglades—and have depth and breadth to their language. Short caw. Short-medium caw. Medium caw. Long caw. Harsh caw, applied in the presence of a hawk or an owl. Ko-aw. Ko. Combination caws. Double short caw. Assembly caw. Mix caw. Inflected caw. Alert caw. Dispersal caw. Long caw. Squalling caw. Rattle. Announcement caw. Food-begging call. Dive attack call. Song ( a mix of coos, rattles, and clicks). Crows mimic, too: barred owls, Canada geese, cats, and dogs.
And crows are leery of high-powered, semi-automatic guns.
We feed "our" crows every morning at 6. Whatever the cat brought in overnight. Last night was a mole. We also feed them chicken bones, apples, and dried cat food.
Love your cawing sounds!