This week during some of the time I spent with Bo, my wild American Crow buddy, I had the opportunity to learn something new: not all crows are ok with you collecting their discarded feathers.
Crows are beginning to molt here in Portland, discarding feathers over the next few months so that new ones can grow in before fall. You can see how some of the downy feathers around the wings are starting to come loose here on Bo:
Interestingly, Bo's little sister, Junior, is beginning to molt in the same spots. I have seen other crows begin their molts in different places. Some around the neck, some on the chest. It makes me wonder if molting patterns are genetic.
The other day one of Bo's larger flight feathers came out while he was preening himself on a branch. He seemed fascinated with it, and started playing with it, tearing it apart, bending it, nibbling on it.
He was having a good time with it, but his mate, Lorena, acted very unsettled when he started carrying it around. She made the same calls crows make when they see an injured or dead crow.
Her calls were upsetting to Bo, so he dropped the feather, and Lorena became quiet again.
In my ignorance and excitement I rushed over to collect the feather. One of Bo's feathers! A confirmed feather from my best crow friend. I was holding it, about to take a picture, when Lorena started crying out again. Bo joined her, and suddenly the two crows that love and trust me were frightened by me. I dropped the feather and walked away, but they continued to scream bloody murder at me and not the feather. I did the only thing I could think to do to calm them down: I took off my shoes and placed them on top of the feather to hide it.
They grew quiet, but still eyed me suspiciously.
I carry an ample supply of tasty snacks for crows so I can feed all those I encounter on my crow walks. On this day I had some scrambled eggs and dog kibble. I put an abundant amount down for them and gave them some space.
After a moment they came down and started to eat.
I managed to record as much of this experience as I could while still doing what I needed to maintain the trust. The video is a couple minutes long, but starts with Bo playing with his feather. It's pretty cute.
While they were distracted eating the food, I stealthily slipped the feather into my pack.
As luck would have it, there was a cat nearby that was trying to stalk Bo and Lorena while they were eating. Both crows were aware of the cat, but I took the opportunity to shoo the savage beast away. After that, all was forgiven.
the forbidden feather
Later in the week Bo's little sister Junior pulled out a tiny feather while she was preening.
She didn't care at all when I collected it. She just wanted peanuts. It may have been because of the size, or the fact that no other crows were reacting. Other crows have seen me collect their molted feathers too and could care less. So I could venture to say that it was only something that bothers Lorena, maybe based on an experience she had in the past.
I'm glad she forgave me.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post! If you’d like to learn more about my friendship with Bo, please read my blog An Unexpected Friendship. I post about crows frequently, so if you like these amazing birds, follow me! And join Feathered Friends!
All photos and videos are mine unless otherwise stated, taken with my Nikon D7500 or iPhone and edited with Apple Photo Editor and Adobe Lightroom.
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