The sun blazed in a bright
blue sky, the garden bloomed under its warmth, vibrant greens with splashes of
brilliant colour, the pond shimmering silvery blue…finally some sunshine, some
heat to the spring.
The net was up, but with the
bright light very few birds were falling for that trick. One group of bird that
rarely falls for any kind of trap are the corvids, a cosmopolitan group of
birds that includes crow, jays, ravens, magpies and jackdaws. They are
considered amongst the most intelligent birds, even some of the most
intelligent of all animals having shown self awareness, counting and tool use. Of
this group we most often catch Jays, but the other corvids rarely fall for mist
nets or traps that we predominantly use to catch birds.
On this bright sunny day
however things were different, the temptation of food and the pressures of
feeding young was overriding the caution of a net. A flurry of black, the net
bounces and there lying in the pocket was a small black crow with a distinctive
silver sheen to the back of the head and a piercing pale eye, a Jackdaw!
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| A stunning Jackdaw! |
With the Jackdaw released
and back chattering noisily, things again quietened down in the garden… that is
until another large bird bounced into the net. This time it was a carrion crow!
A large forbidding looking bird, with glossy, black feathers, dark eye and
thick bill, this intelligent bird is one of the most adaptable and cleverest of
all.
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| Cracking Carrion Crow |
Within the county of Clwyd North Wales very few carrion crows are ringed each year, with
none ringed in 2011 and only two in 2010! As for Jackdaws around 15-20 adult
birds are ringed each year within the county… as such a more than unusual catch
for this garden and region!
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| No messin' |
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| Raar! |
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