Crows I have known

 When I started leaving peanuts in the yard each morning, the crows were not the only ones to notice. The neighborhood gray squirrel came over to investigate as well.  This squirrel has grown fat off horse chestnuts all fall. I watched him expertly balance as he ran along the phone line two stories up like a tight-rope walker with a tail, carrying a horse chestnut in his front two paws. In the urban wildlife landscape, squirrels are the true acrobats. So now this squirrel has noticed free peanuts on the yard every morning, and is not afraid to lay claim to it. To misquote Robert Frost, "He things all peanuts are his by rights."* So I've unwittingly created a scarce resource for which there is now conflict. This morning I sat watching by the window while a young crow paced back and forth looking right and left, waiting for the right opportunity to leap up onto the peanut rock. No sooner did she do that, than a larger crow swooped down to claim her spot. She moved over, def...