Crows are interfering busybodies. They are also self-appointed caretakers of the bird fraternity. Or so it seems to me from my own experience. In an earlier post I have written about how they chased off the egrets and other birds while I was shooting them, from quite a distance too!

Somehow the crows of the place understood that the egrets (and other birds) were the subject of my interest and that my camera lens was turned on them. They started diving down on the water birds (some of them started flying overhead too) that were foraging in the water calmly, creating a ruckus, cawing raucously as if warning them that danger was at hand. Yeah, harmless old me with my camera!

A few of the birds took the warning to heart and flew away. Maybe they were afraid of the bullying. Others chose to ignore the crows and went about their business. It was almost like they said to themselves, ‘It’s all very well for the crow to shout warnings, but my stomach is rumbling and I need sustenance!’ Or perhaps there were baby birds back in the nest waiting for food. Who knows!

But would the crows stop haranguing them? No!

They dived and pecked the egrets and herons and made it known in no uncertain terms that they had to go home. NOW! While I admire the dedication of the crows for looking out for the safety of the bird sisters and brothers, it annoys me no end that they are unable to differentiate a camera from a gun. Come on crows, you are supposed to have the brain of a seven year old human. I am sure a seven year old knows no harm can come from a camera!

But

What is the use of my raving and ranting? By the way, only in my mind, mind you. I don’t want to antagonise crows, for everyone knows that never ever ends well.

Luci used to chase them off barking madly when they tried eating her leftover food and they ended up ganging up on her whenever she walked out of the house. Then there is the news item I read about crows not letting a man walk out of his home. I don’t know what he had done to offend them. Probably made faces at them for all I know. The poor fellow ended up having to wear a crown on branches and leaves while venturing out for fear of being pecked. There was even a photo of him thus adorned in the newspaper.

What I did then, when the crows disturbed the shooting, was to curse them freely beneath my breath, shut shop and go back inside the house. But that is a story from a different time and place. Surprisingly today the scenario of the meddling repeated itself, albeit in a low key manner.

I was out on my morning walk when I saw a Black Drongo. It looked like a juvie. I fished my phone out of my pocket carefully, got as close as I possibly could without alarming the bird, and took one shot.You are not going to believe what happened next. Within seconds a crow was on the scene. Do they post lookouts as early as quarter past six in the mornings? The answer seems a definite yes.

This crow hadn’t come to enjoy the cool morning breeze. It wasn’t even looking for bits of food from me. On alighting on the roof of the garage it promptly made to peck the drongo. Usually drongos are spirited birds and don’t take kindly to crows bossing them. But this one being a juvie immediately took off. Any more opportunities for clicking the drongo was thus lost.

All because of an officious crow. Pah!

©️ Shail Mohan 2023