as the crow flies...

OK let it be known that I love crows...

I am tired of apologizing for it.

Now that it is officially autumn these two can adorn my rooms again.

I bought them last fall at this wonderful site,

and found that I could not put them away after

autumn past,

so they stayed around and even had miniature santas riding their backs at Christmas time.

I just love them.

Some people don't like crows. I don't get it.

They are faithful, intelligent creatures that are most interesting.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology states:

• Crows sometimes make and use tools. Examples include a captive crow using a cup to carry water over to a bowl of dry mash; shaping a piece of wood and then sticking it into a hole in a fence post in search of food; and breaking off pieces of pine cone to drop on tree climbers by a nest.
• American Crows are highly social birds, more often seen in groups than alone. In addition to roosting and foraging in numbers, crows often stay together in year-round family groups that consist of the breeding pair and offspring from the past two years. The whole family cooperates to raise young. Families may include up to 15 individuals and contain young from five different years.

So how cool is that?

At the school where I work at we have

"popcorn Fridays" and

often much popcorn is spilled on the ground

- but not for long...

An entire playground can be wiped clean within an hour by these crafty birds.

How do they spread the word that

the popcorn has arrived?

Or are they sooo smart that they just know

when it is Friday

and patiently peer out from the fir branches until the first kernel hits the ground.

Oh that is spooky!

What's not to like about a fellow creature that even likes buttered popcorn?