Well Bottom Blues

The crows come first alone or a pair but quickly gather in dozens when I cast handfuls of cheap cat food. I have a spot walk to the front of the park through the old growth live oaks where I feed them, beneath to especially large trees where the ground is mostly bare from the shade. 

Some come to me as much as a half mile away and know where I arrive and park before I get to their spot. I spread a little food for these earlier rivals. After my main drop they will follow me to a second exceptionally large tree, the McDonough Oak over 800 years old and I’ll scatter some more food there. 

Towards the end of my walk I get a cafe au lait and go to the bench named for a local musician near where I first fed the crowd. I’ll scatter some more much closer to me and a few will come for that again,

Sometimes in another spot a single crow comes very close with a guttural call like a message from raven, the so-called rattle call reserved for mated pairs or parents and offspring. 

I started calling them the crow cousins when I began feeding them in front of my house over 10 years ago. Now I am truly family.