One of the wintertime sports around the farm here at Indigo Hill is watching who and what comes to the meat pile. We throw old, freezer-burned steaks, over-the-hill chicken carcasses, and past-its-freshness-date hamburger in a big pile three-quarters of the way out our middle meadow path, along with anything else that might attract hungry wildlife, and we watch to see what comes in.
Ten days ago we put a frozen fruit pie out, along with some carbon-datable chicken fingers. Then we placed a Moultrie GameCam (courtesy of our friends at WingScapes) nearby to capture snapshots of the action. Most of the activity occurred at night and that's the stuff of another post. But we also caught some visits during the day by our local American crows.
I can just imagine how long they must have perched in the woods nearby, sure that this was a trap. They might have watched for hours before the bravest among them swooped down for a closer look. Even when other flockmates joined in, you can still see that they are wary—checking for trip wires, joy-buzzers, pit traps, Ed McMahon.
Finally satisfied that this is simply a big pile of gourmet grub set out just for them the crows tie into the pie. They look like hungry diners at a lunch counter. And I can almost hear their mealtime conversation.
Crow #1: "Hey bro! You know what would go GREAT with this pie?Crow #2: "No idea, dude. What?"
Crow #1: "A cup of caw-fee!"
Crow #2 "Fershizzle!"
