Imagine a couple of squirrels trapped in a metal garbage can with the lid on. Or imagine a raccoon in the same position. No, best to imagine a couple of squirrels and a raccoon sealed in a metal garbage can. Now, consider the volume of that sound of frantic scraping.
There are many wonderful birds on campus, many of which I cannot yet identify. I am familiar with the small white egrets and have now read about the pied crows that frequent the Guest Centre grounds. These are an attractive and intelligent bird, but also a sort of cross between Southern Ontario's starlings and crows: noisy and somewhat aggressive scavengers. My understanding is they are more closely related to ravens than crows. They certainly look the part, with a more prominent brow and greater size than a crow has. They also have these stylish looking bibs.
One of the pied crows insists on hanging out on the roof over my room. Since this is a country without frost there is no need for insulation. The ceiling is just a thin layer of pressed board beneath an attic open to the pitched roof above. The metal, pitched roof. The slippery, metal, pitched roof.
The first time I heard the sound I thought some animal had got caught in a well or water container outside my window. Then I realized it was coming from above not below. Now, each day I hear the talons of the pied crow as it scrambles over my roof trying to maintain a foothold. As near as I can tell, it just likes the view.
1 comment:
Interesting. Your pied crow looks an awful lot like the bird in a tv commercial about window cleaner. I've always thought (assumed or it was implied) that the birds in the commercial were supposed to be magpies. I'd met and loved magpies when I lived in Edmonton, and always mutter that 'those aren't magpies!'
Gee, maybe they're supposed to be pied crows! Now I'll have to look those up...
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