Late start this morning.
Plus rain.
So not a lot of pictures.
Ten or eleven crows all told, mostly waiting at the halfway point.
But hey, they showed up despite the weather.
I took a couple of flower snaps.
Sorta.
But really wasn’t into it.
Because of the cold and wet.
And then, damp and shivering, I partook of my morning coffee ritual.
Up late, so late, late start.
Still had three crows waiting out front when we left.
Rain and wind last night, but cloudy blue skies this morning.
This made for some shots of the crows that, absent this dramatic sky, would have been mid.
But the sky is a ham and a scene-stealer.
Did I mention there was a rainbow?
A double rainbow?
Also, there were gulls.
Being dramatic.
And random junk.
And flowers.
Lots and lots of flowers.
And a thieving bastard or two.
But most importantly, there was coffee.
Literally at the end of the rainbow…
Here’s my second audio ‘video’ of crows making noise.
This time, they were loud and angry.
I think there were two different murders fighting over … if not that particular stretch of trees, maybe a body?
Anyway, this is the closest recording I have to the time I was swarmed by forty-five crows, and I’ve been carrying around a recorder on my morning walks ever since, hoping to encounter such a sound again.
Finally, last Friday, success!
(And Friday the 13th, no less. How apropos!)
As with the previous video, this is best experienced with headphones. The video itself is just still images, so I encourage you to close your eyes and imagine you’re walking a dog when you suddenly find yourself … surrounded by a high key murder.
Just under twenty crows this morning.
We got out quite a bit earlier than usual, so no murder waiting for us.
No rush today, so we took our time, walking slow, listening, Doggo sniffing at a leisurely pace.
The crows watched, waited, followed, but never got too close.
The thieving bastard made an appearance, and in the ultimate show of disrespect, after stealing a peanut, mooned me!
There were flowers galore, but also reminders of the winter of my life, the slow, inexorable descent towards death.
And there was light, lemons, and simply interesting things.
(I can only photograph the same flowers over and over again so many times…)
And then, at last, the morning coffee ritual.
Left a bit later than usual.
Cool, overcast morning.
No crows waiting.
About fifteen showed up near the halfway mark.
But that was nothing compared to later.
There were a lot of crows later.
Not interested in us.
And sounding angry.
My best guess is there were a couple of murders fighting over territory.
I walked right under their screaming and yelling.
I really hope the recording comes out.
We encountered the usual display of flora during our walk.
And then the morning coffee ritual.
New coffee this morning. The pumpkin spice blend ran out, so this morning it’s a cinnamon blend (like my Linux desktop environment -IYKYK).
Opted for 12MP images today. When shooting 64MP, in addition to the slugishness I’ve mentioned before, I’m also finding that the auto focus doesn’t work reliably. And I need to research whether this is a true 64MP or interpolated.
So I over fed a crow.
One peanut over the limit, and the bird collapsed in on itself, folding spacetime and, with a burst of x-rays, rending a tear in reality itself.
Out again a bit early, so no crows waiting for us.
But about twenty-one found us by the halfway mark.
Rained yesterday, so all the flowers were a bit damp.
Having both survived, morning coffee ritual at the end.
Light drizzle and a strong breeze on this morning’s walk.
Left a bit earlier than usual, so no crows waiting.
But about twenty found me eventually.
Can’t complain about the sky.
Though the flora was left a bit damp.
The morning coffee ritual proceeded without incident, and I’m actually far enough ahead of schedule that I’m running on time.
For a change…
Cool with dense clouds this morning.
Left about five minutes earlier than the last couple of days, and no crows waiting for us.
But they figured out we were on the move soon enough.
Sixteen crows on a blustery morning.
The flowers were waiting, as reliable as ever.
And just as reliable, my morning coffee ritual upon our return.
I was going to do a proper post of this morning’s walk this afternoon, but life (not work, for a change!) got in the way.
Still, better late than never.
Mostly flowers, for some reason.
But as I mentioned this morning, there were crows.
Hopefully, tomorrow, I’ll have a better handle on my process.
ian m dudley 