The Crow's Nest

One day back in early March I was gazing out of the kitchen window while doing the washing-up, when I noticed a pair of carrion crows (Corvus corone) building a nest in a tree in the grounds of Reading School.  At about 30m tall, the tree is the tallest in the area, and the crows had built their nest in the thin branches right at the top.  On March 10th and 11th both of the crows were visiting the nest frequently and presumably they were still building it.  Here are a few photos I took of them from that period:

Later in March I saw them visiting the nest much less often and at some times I even thought they must have abandoned the nest.  However, in early April I realised that a dark shape on the top of the nest must be one of the birds sitting on eggs.  This is a photo from April 6th:

Then today, April 9th, neither of the birds was sitting on the nest but they were still occasionally returning to it and poking their heads into it.  Presumably the eggs have hatched and the pair are now feeding their young.  One final photo, from today:

Comments

[Diana Asbury]

Crows are very intelligent creatures. They are one of only two creatures that can not only use tools, but make them, also.
Crow is one of the signs of Cherokee Astology, not sure of the ending date- but, it starts on my birthday- September 22.
They are very social animals, I have a murder of crows greet me almost every morning. We talk for a little while, then they go on with their day.Also, these are not tourist birds- they are wild. Yet, if they see our truck, they will show up pretty much anywhere I go- Wal-Mart, the grocery store, etc. land on the light poles- and start bawking at me until I answer!
My husband is from Maryland, and once he saw someone throw a small bag of potato wedges down at a park. A crow watched this, too, and proceeded to start carrying them off. While he was off doing this, the trashman shows up and heads for the offensive item. My husband tried to warn him- but , he didn't listen. He stooped down to pick the wedges up- and got attacked!!! The crow would not stop until the man threw them back on the ground and left!!!!

[Rena]

Thank you very much for this post. The crow, being my spirit guide, is very wise. The other comment posted brought joy to my heart. So I am not the only one whom the crows follow. Now that I am aware of my spirit guide, I see crows everywhere. Like your other visitor they speak to me in ways I can't express. I have learned so much from the clever crow.