Sunday, November 2, 2014

THE INVASION OF THE CROWS

For several days last week we were invaded by a black cloud of crows! (I know it should be 'a murder of crows', but that sounds so pretentious!) There is no way I could get a proper photo of them all as they settled in the trees around us, but I tried to get a video with all the noise they made:


I haven't tried uploading any of my videos before so the quality is not good, but I think you can hear all the racket they made.  Some of them flew down to the creek, but again it was difficult to show the number there were.


I so enjoy our rural style environment and I thought the invasion of the crows was hilarious.  They are such funny creatures. Whenever I hear them coming, I drop whatever I am doing and run out onto the deck to watch. Unfortunately, I have been quite disappointed to discover that their roosting area has now moved further down the creek and almost out of earshot.  Perhaps they will return another time.  

We are rejoicing today after receiving almost a half inch of rain last night and yesterday.  This is the first we have had since the beginning of March.  Some of our young shrubs and plants were really suffering and I was afraid we would lose some of them.  Poor Moth has had to go out and water all our potted plants every couple of days (we have quite a lot of them because of the poor quality of the soil since we live so close to the creek -- very sandy).  It was quite a lot of work.  Hopefully we will get back to our normal weather now, but the temperatures are expected to go up to the mid 80's next week and there is no more rain in sight. 

My beautiful plumeria is still in full bloom even though it is November:

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Today is especially set aside as "Prayer for the Persecuted Christians " day.  Our church is having a special service this evening.  Pastor Abou Saeed Abedini, an Iranian pastor, has been imprisoned and tortured in Iran for two years now.  He has a wife and family.  There are many others like him who are suffering horribly for the 'crime' of being a Christian. If you believe in prayer and in our Lord Jesus Christ, please join those of us around the nation who are praying for relief for these persecuted Christians.   

3 comments:

snafu said...

That sounds like a lot of crows. I used to work in an office which was under some trees that had a rookery in them. The crows were mostly silent until spring, then they would make a lot of noise simeilar to your crows. Many birds found in the USA are quite different to our European birds, and I do not know if UK crows are any different to US crows, but they sound similar. Some birds, such as sparrows migrated on board ships, so they are mostly the same all over the world.

Black Jack's Carol said...

I am fascinated by your crows. We are somewhere between a rookery (that had to move a few years ago due to power lines but is still in Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver) and wherever the crows return in the mornings. Many go to North Vancouver where I used to work. They would arrive with me (it seemed) at work in the mornings and leave with me at sundown (during the winter season.. our schedules didn't coincide so clearly in the summer). I loved to watch them and still do. Thank you for the video. It gave a wonderful feel for the energy. Like you, I find it just about impossible to convey their numbers in a photograph.

I just read in an article (no verification that it is factual) that only poets call large gatherings of crows "murders".. scientists call them flocks.

So glad you finally got some rain. Wish we could send a little more :)

As for atrocities committed against any living being, I'm at a loss to understand, and at an even greater loss to know what to do to make a difference. Though you've probably figured out that I can't really qualify my fervent wishes as "prayer" I do what I can in my small way to model the Golden Rule. It seems such a simple and beautiful philosophy. I will be thinking of Abou Saeed Abedini and his family and hoping against hope that things somehow turn around. How terribly sad.

Oh.. and thank you for inspiring me to listen a few more times to the Paul Simon song last evening while really thinking about the lyrics. I've always liked him, but my regard deepened after your message.

Until next time :)

mrsnesbitt said...

Alfred Hitchcock all over again?

Denise x