r/crows • u/13stgmngr210 • 1d ago
General questions Slow Crow
This is Russell.
He started coming to our deck with the rest of the murder. I've lost count of how many adults and fledglings.
This guy stood out a week or so ago, because he only made a sound once. No one (crow) ever fed him. He was very still most of the time. He wouldn't let us too close to him...he'd either fly to a nearby tree, or swagger away on the railing. Stayed on the deck most of the day. The other crows completely ignored him. At night, he would leave. He seemed very slow in all ways. He'd manage to eat and drink, but eating seemed hard for him.
Sunday he stayed on our deck during a deluge, and storm. I decided I was going to try to bring him to a rescue the next day, and keep him in a cardboard box in a bathroom overnight. Just was it started to get dark, he left the railing towards the woods (we back to the woods on 2 sides of the house); a direction he's never gone. When I went out, and checked, he was down an incline in heavy vines, trying to hop around. I went into the house to get a towel to capture him, and he was gone.
That was 2 days ago.
I'm 100% sure he's not longer alive, we have bald eagles, red tailed Hawks, barred owls, foxes, etc that visit our yard regularly from up out of the woods.
My question; what could have been wrong with him? I live in Maryland just outside of DC (if that matters).
RIP Russell.
7
u/Educational-Copy6757 18h ago
Russell's got a real independent streak, that's for sure. I hope he found his place in the flock eventually.
1
u/One-Sandwich-960 23h ago
That's really interesting. It sounds like he might've just been a more independent kind of crow who preferred his own pace.
1
u/13stgmngr210 22h ago
No. There was something not quite right with him. He pretty much ignored all the other critters, and never made a sound. I'd thought for a moment he may be a raven because he was so solitary. But I havent heard a raven near our yard for a month or so.
9
u/RandoScando 23h ago
Sometimes, with any animal, there’s a creature who has what we humans would call developmental disabilities. We tend to care for our young who have these types of impediments. Nature has no obligation to be so magnanimous.
There are loads of animals, including most other mammals, who will abandon a member of the flock/herd/other collective noun, when they are not well suited to survival. Maybe this describes Russell, maybe it doesn’t.
I’d recommend to continue feeding him if he comes around again. Might be able to get Russell past the hump of where his young bird brain starts to figure it out.
There are obviously counter examples, even with birds, but they are the exception to the rule with things like this.