American crow

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By Crow Marquee

Jordan Lake. I quietly explained to the sassy American crow that if he would just perch still for a moment, I would make him the star of the day. So what does he do? He made a marquee out of himself and the autumn leaves, didn’t he!

American crow

By Inquisitive American Crow

Jordan Lake. As autumn nears, the American crows tend to gather in rather large noisy flocks. This individual, however, seemed to be intent upon studying just who was sitting there on the shoreline studying him. So before the crow could decide his curiosity was satisfied and fly off, I photographed his inquisitive portrait.

American Crow

By American Crows Mobbing Red-tailed Hawk

Jordan Lake: I had been listening to the crows’ mobbing calls for several minutes, over behind the trees beyond First Nest. Then out from the trees burst a red-tailed hawk in the midst of several crows. Crows chase any raptor away from their territory. The hawk sailed past, ignoring the squawking and diving crows. Eventually they all disappeared on the far side of the cove. Note: the BIG bulge that you can see extending from the hawk’s throat to its chest is made by the bird’s crop and it is swollen because the hawk has stored excess food there for later consumption.

By Crows’ Happy Hour

Jordan Lake does not have a human happy hour, so to speak, because alcohol is not allowed at the lake. However, American Crows define happy hour to be any time that they come across some human food to haul off. The lead crow has either a piece of chicken wing or maybe chicken nugget and it is heading for the clan’s cache tree. The other two crows are part of his family/clan that are escorting him across the open part of the lake in order to keep other clans from stealing that tidbit of human food. It appears that fried chicken in any form or shape and at any hour is appealing both to humans and to crows!

By Photo Bomb!

Jordan Lake Dam, Haw River: You know the saying “the best laid plans of mice and men (and photographers)? Photo bomb! Just as the bald eagle caught her fish, an American crow decided to zip along side of her. The crow did make a rather interesting abstract form that nicely framed the eagle.