Near the Old Man of Storr, Scotland I took this in 2004
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
A plaintive crow
(please keep signing and telling others to sign my petition asking the Canadian Government to include animal rights in the constitution)
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/put-animal-rights-into-the-constitution
A sad day.
As I made my way home, earlier, I heard the call of a crow. At first I fitted the sound into the category of 'background noises', and took it for granted.
I finally looked up and saw an enchanting image; a lone crow sitting atop a dying northern Ontario pine, cawing plaintively, desperately. No one answered. S/he then swooped down to a lower bough, and continued to caw, hoping someone would return the call. Nothing.
No one else but me stopped to bare witness to the destruction we have wreaked on the crow population of this fair city.
Ever since bloody SARS and then that "bird flu", we have been massacring birds, especially "scavenger" birds, such as crows, at such an alarming rate, that hearing any at all again in this city is a joyful miracle; even if it may be the only one for kilometres, and therefore desperately alone.
Both SARS and the bird flu shit and even the pig flu all, in fact, stem from human filthiness. We give these pandemics animal names, to take the onus off of us, but they were all the result of human beings who missed day one in kindergarten: wash your hands! Keep your area clean and tidy.
I think most people forget how crucial kindergarten really is. If only we could send all our politicians back to kindergarten.
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Terrible you know how much I LOVE crows. I was at the Hearst Castle earlier last year and sat with some bird seed and a few brave crows came hopping over, once they saw that I wasn't moving and didn't try to grab the first brave soul who took some food outta my hand, they flocked over and took turns eating out of my hand!! This guy sitting near by said it was the only time in his life that he saw crows eating out of someone's hand. They were all so beautiful and huge, it's one of my favorite memories
ReplyDeleteOk I don't know if my comment posted or not, so here it is again:
ReplyDeleteI LOVE crows. I was at the Hearst Castle and had some bird seed with me. A few brave crows came by to scout me out, once they saw that I wasn't moving or trying to grab at them, they came in closer and took turns eating out of my hand!! This guy watching me said it was the only time in his life he'd seen crows eating out of someone's hand. They were all so big and beautiful. It's one of my favorite memories, well, that and watching the crows there watch a guy eating french fries, once he got up to throw something away, the crows swooped in and ate some of his fries! He shouted "Hey!" as a few of them flew off with his fries, but laughed and then, sat down and finished eating lol
I love crows too, and you have a crow, don't you, as your icony thing? That's a beautiful story, that you were lucky enough to get a meeting with a crow up close...and they are big. i've never been so up close as you, but I've seen them larking about and they're a big bird.
ReplyDeleteI saw a hawk once pretty close up, and I was surprised how huge it was.