Thursday, July 21, 2016

Nature near home - 3

In two two older  posts  I cited John Burroughs (1918):
  • The birds about his own door are his birds, the flowers in his own fields and wood are his, the rainbow springs its magic arch across his valley, even the everlasting stars to which one lifts his eye, night after night, and year after year, from his own doorstep, have something private and personal about them.

This year we have a small crow family living on our back lawn. They are easily identifiable because their only young is half-white. This is a case of leucism, a melanin deficiency not uncommon in corvids.

In the first days of June this young had tumbled from the nest and just hung around on the grass, flightless. We feared for its survival but fortunately the local cats ignored it. Then on 9-6-2016 it started trying out its wings. It could fly clumsily but just a few meters.
On 11-06-2016 it was still being fed by its parents. It still tries that even now on 21-07-2016. But now the parents (try to) ignore it. But the family still walks and flies together.
And on 26-06-2016 it could already fly nicely. Now on 21-07-2016 it still looks funnily unfinished, just like all immature corvids. But most likely it will survive. I'm curious if it will stay in the neighborhood.

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