Restoring the reputation of the humble crow
I have seen crows engage in aerobatic displays, dipping and diving, swooping and swaying in mock aerial combat and displaying a graceful precision that would put the Red Arrows to shame. Picture: Denis Minihane
I thought I might say a few words for the crow. The crow generally gets a bad press. Even Aesop, that famed philosopher and creator of children’s fables showed up the poor humble crow in a bad light with his story of how the wily old fox tricked the crow out of his supper by inviting the crow to sing and thus let his chunk of cheese fall to the fox who licked his lips and devoured the appetiser.
Hitchcock, in his horror film , had plenty of our feathered friends that could have been vilified but he chose to put the horror spotlight on the benighted crow. Perhaps, like the swallow, if the crow was to fly south to the sun for six months, he might be more appreciated.
It’s the time of year when I spend some time watching the Newport House crows searching for signs of the weather. I have outlined here previously how the Newport House crows build their nests higher up in the trees when they foresee a good summer coming. The higher up the tree the greater the light that shines on the nests to keep young chicks warm. It’s just common crow sense.
Some of my more astute and critical readers have observed in the past that the Breaffy House crows and their corvine cousins in Coolcronan House maintain their rookery at the same level every year and it does not interfere with the summer weather. Such people do not give credit to the superior intellect of the Newport House crow. It may have something to do with the sea air which the Newport House crows have in abundance.
I have seen crows engage in aerobatic displays, dipping and diving, swooping and swaying in mock aerial combat and displaying a graceful precision that would put the Red Arrows to shame. The pigeon which has a coo as against the crow’s caw is not in the same class. It gets a better press than the crow possibly because its breasts have filled the plates of the aristocracy and abominable shooters for generations, but, apart from being a tasty morsel, it has little to recommend it. It does have a more varied colour pattern but can it compare with the unsullied raven black of the crow?
The pigeon nests in greater greenery at much lower levels than the crow and creates a much greater mess. It’s smaller cousin, the dove, revered in religious iconography, has been given a new lease of life in recent times at grand wedding ceremonies, but the less said about that particular outrage the better. The little robin with his/her/their warm red breast is everyone’s favourite and a calendar pin-up, particularly at Christmas time, but he can be a contrary customer especially at this time of year as he protects his territory from invaders who might seek to get on the inside track with an amorous female.
David Attenborough, the British broadcaster and naturalist, has not, as far as I know, been bothered to bring his wisdom and natural curiosity to bear on the crow. He has travelled the world and brought attention to the bizarre courting habits of birds (and other animals) as they strut their stuff and plumage in far-flung exotic places. I would not mind travelling to some far-flung places myself in search of enthralling stories but here I have my crow. Its caw may not excite the musical purists but it pleases the female of the species and when it fans its tail feathers it is quite an inviting sight.
The crow’s social interactions are a bit like our own. They stay faithful for life to their partners but they have been known to stray (a bit like some of ourselves, present company excluded!) and engage in extramarital copulations. So, you can see the crow deserves a bit more consideration and perhaps Robert Frost got it right when he penned these words:
It’s a small thing that can lift our mood and Frost spotted the crow’s good deed. You might ask what the crow has to do with anything in this world but, as Frost observed, it’s the small things that can lift our spirits and while I was tuned in to Sky News the other afternoon (with nothing better to do!) I came across Mr Donald Trump’s (as US President Elect he is entitled to the respect of his proper title) interview and I must say he lifted my spirits with a truly hilarious performance. He had me chuckling away at almost every throwaway line he uttered. He was just brilliant. The issue sensible and highly regarded politicians around the (free) world just could not figure out was how serious Mr Trump was.
Could he be serious when he promised to bring hell on earth to Gaza? He couldn’t. How could he visit hell on earth to a people who have had hell on earth already visited on them by Netanyahu and the people of Israel. He was just giving the message to Hamas to release the hostages and to Israel to get in and complete the carnage before Joe Biden leaves the stage. Gaza is a mess he just does not want to deal with.
He then went on to ruffle the feathers of the people of Denmark by suggesting that he could invade Greenland as it is vital to American economic and defence interests. After all Greenland is close to Russia and, as Putin is the world’s number one terrorist following the invasion of Ukraine, it would make sense for the US to invade Greenland and see off the Putin threat. So, of course he could not rule out the use of force.
Mr Trump could not leave the Chinese out in the cold without some mention. The Chinese, according to Mr Trump, have taken over the Panama Canal which is vital to US economic interests, so he could not rule out the use of force to secure the canal. I’m sure the Chinese, whatever about the Panamanians, are shivering in their boots at the prospect.
He refrained from threatening to invade Canada and Mexico (thought he did not rule it out; he just didn’t mention it) but he left both countries in no doubt that they would face severe economic sanctions and just in case anyone was not taking him seriously he renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
Mr Trump is taking no prisoners as he sets about Making America Great Again and he is not even waiting until he gets into the White House. Fair play to him, he had the world’s press salivating on his every word and, in the view of this humble scribe, it was just brilliant how he played them for the gullible accomplices they are.
He failed to mention Ireland. RTÉ must not have been invited to the press conference and so he did not add to the hysteria that already exists around the threat of economic policies that could see an end to the windfall taxes that have underpinned the wonderful economy we have. A jolt of reality might do our politicians no harm. A jolt of reality might do the people of this country no harm. We might of course curry favour with Mr Trump by booking into the Trump Doonbeg resort.
No one ever damaged their eyesight by looking on the bright side.
