Monday, February 17, 2014

Crows - a near Hitchcockian story

No one outside of the Vancouver area probable knows about this, but there is an unusually large flock (or murder) of crows in Burnaby that is somewhere in the 6,000 count.

A quick Google search will supply videos, and heaps of articles about this odd phenomenon that has been tracked since the 1970's.

It's something I've always known about, but never actually seen it until a couple weeks ago I drove a friend of mine to an early morning job interview in that area of Burnaby.

Coincidentally enough, a ton of them were roosting on the building, in the surrounding trees, the trees across the street, and on the power lines. As I waited for the interview to be over, I wandered around the parking lot and tried to snap a few pictures with my phone, which really doesn't do the experience justice...

I am very fond of crows and ravens, but even this was a little unsettling. Seriously, click the photos so you can see all the birds in the background...








Thursday, February 13, 2014

Eagle food

On Vancouver Island, because of poor fishing off the coast, it was common knowledge not to walk your dog off-leash at the beach, or in dog parks, without keeping a close eye up above since the bald eagles weren't getting enough wild prey...

On the Bear Mountain golf course, bald eagles would attack deer and kill them... seriously...

In Vancouver, it doesn't seem like that's as much of a problem, but a couple weeks ago at Jericho, I was walking with Eva and saw an eagle swooping down straight towards us. Automatically I pulled Eva's leash and stepped in front of her, and the eagle immediately turned and landed in a tree not even 20 feet to my left...

Guess it's a good thing my experience on Vancouver Island made me more aware or my little beagle could have turned into a snack for this guy: