Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Good Morning From A Fish Crow

Courtesy Chris Takacs

It seems just about every morning as I head out the door for work there is a Fish Crow perched atop a nearby telephone pole voicing its nasally call for the all world to hear. Although I am usually rushing to my truck dreading the coming onslaught of the morning Route 17 traffic I try to stop and give my corvid friend a hello back.

“Hey up there” I usually yell out, not caring much if my neighbors look at me a little strange ( I rarely say good morning to them). Of course the Crow never pays me any mind at all, kind of rude but then again I am sure he or she is having a very busy morning also.

I became well aware of how the Fish Crow has been expanding its range and becoming my welcome but noisy neighbor during Hurricane Sandy. For days as the flood waters around my house receded the Fish Crows had a feast on all the fish that sadly wound up stranded in the streets and backyards. Bad for the fish but the mother lode for the friends and family of my pole sitting  town crier.

For that matter there are even a flock of Fish Crows hanging around my place of employment on Route 17 in Paramus on a daily basis. Not sure what they are doing there but at least they don’t get delayed at Route 4 on the way home the way I do.

The corvid family of birds, jays, crows and ravens are legendary as far as their intelligence goes. Some say they take care of their injured and elderly and sometimes even seem to mourn the dead. We might all take a lesson from them.

I may be unique in my thinking I consider my Fish Crow friends and for that matter most any wildlife just as much a  part of the place where I have chosen to live as anyone  or anything else that attempts to call my neighborhood  their home. But after all they are with us every day if you choose just to look up, take a glance and just pay some attention.

They are there when we are on the way to work, at school and in bed. Our wildlife, much like us, is out there every day trying their best to find enough food, raise their young and be safe, the same things we are all striving for day in and day out our whole lives.

So the next time a Fish Crow, a Chickadee or even the neighborhood squirrel takes the time to greet you, say hello, good morning and Godspeed. We are neighbors and are all in this together.

For more info on the Fish Crow click here

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