Sitting around tonight and was remembering Edgar, the crow I befriended a while ago. He's gone now, but thinking about him, I wanted to share what a funny and smart bird he was.
Ed showed up months ago with a hurt wing, most likely broken. He was grounded, and had found his way to our yard. We started to feed him, and he stuck around, surviving against the odds. We could've caught him and sent him someplace to be healed...but not only did I not want to break his trust, it was also more we didn't want to interfere with nature, and figured if he grew to the point he trusted us enough to help him, we would. Otherwise we let nature take its course.
Long story short, we grew attached, and called him Edgar Allen Crow. Mostly just Edgar or Ed. Armed with treats, I made it my goal to get him to trust me, and he was getting there. I don't claim that we owned Edgar, I like to say I befriended him. Sure, we fed him, and kept a ladder up (used originally for other uses) for him to use as easy access to the tree. We were just helping a little crow get along in life, but we didn't interfere beyond that.
Edgar came to trust me pretty well, and in only a couple days would step onto my hand without hesitation. Near his end, I was getting him desensitized to sitting on my shoulder, and we were doing so well! Once he even just sat there for almost a minute, content and looking around.
He would even trust me so much as to sit on the lawn chair he had perched on the back of, and a few times he would even jump down to the arm rest for a few minutes before jumping away back to the tree.
Ed was a funny little bird with lots of personality, and so so smart! He had a shiny rock that we would give him and he would always put it up higher and higher on the ladder, out of our reach. I found it a while ago behind the house...Don't know how it got to where it was, but its nice to have it.
And of course, that one 'fond' memory of him showing up late to breakfast, only to have a half of a mouse in his beak!
And that memory of when he followed me into the garage, and I was giving him random items to take for fun...and then he wouldn't get out of the garage...and it got a bit chaotic before we lured him out with treats.
Then one day Edgar never showed up...nor the day after, and pretty soon we realized he was gone for good. I miss him a lot, and it'll always be a fond memory of befriending a wild crow and earning his trust.
Of course, time for pics of Ed.
He was such a cheater for when I would ask for him to hop onto my hand, rather then step up. He'd grab the glove in his beak and attempt to drag my hand over to him. Needless to say, I can add my voice very loudly on how smart corvids are.
Ed showed up months ago with a hurt wing, most likely broken. He was grounded, and had found his way to our yard. We started to feed him, and he stuck around, surviving against the odds. We could've caught him and sent him someplace to be healed...but not only did I not want to break his trust, it was also more we didn't want to interfere with nature, and figured if he grew to the point he trusted us enough to help him, we would. Otherwise we let nature take its course.
Long story short, we grew attached, and called him Edgar Allen Crow. Mostly just Edgar or Ed. Armed with treats, I made it my goal to get him to trust me, and he was getting there. I don't claim that we owned Edgar, I like to say I befriended him. Sure, we fed him, and kept a ladder up (used originally for other uses) for him to use as easy access to the tree. We were just helping a little crow get along in life, but we didn't interfere beyond that.
Edgar came to trust me pretty well, and in only a couple days would step onto my hand without hesitation. Near his end, I was getting him desensitized to sitting on my shoulder, and we were doing so well! Once he even just sat there for almost a minute, content and looking around.
He would even trust me so much as to sit on the lawn chair he had perched on the back of, and a few times he would even jump down to the arm rest for a few minutes before jumping away back to the tree.
Ed was a funny little bird with lots of personality, and so so smart! He had a shiny rock that we would give him and he would always put it up higher and higher on the ladder, out of our reach. I found it a while ago behind the house...Don't know how it got to where it was, but its nice to have it.
And of course, that one 'fond' memory of him showing up late to breakfast, only to have a half of a mouse in his beak!
And that memory of when he followed me into the garage, and I was giving him random items to take for fun...and then he wouldn't get out of the garage...and it got a bit chaotic before we lured him out with treats.
Then one day Edgar never showed up...nor the day after, and pretty soon we realized he was gone for good. I miss him a lot, and it'll always be a fond memory of befriending a wild crow and earning his trust.
Of course, time for pics of Ed.
He was such a cheater for when I would ask for him to hop onto my hand, rather then step up. He'd grab the glove in his beak and attempt to drag my hand over to him.
Needless to say, I can add my voice very loudly on how smart corvids are.
It’s amazing how a wild animal, such as a crow can learn to trust and safely interact with humans.
..Great story..
