The Birds

For some reason in Australia one of the most ever hated birds is the crow.  Growing up as a child I watched my family curse these jet black creatures and all the while I just couldn't summon up that kind of blind hatred for any living thing.  For a while I would caw out the back of our house, just to let them know they weren't really hated... just misunderstood.

Move forward a few years to when I lived with my dad on a small (very small) property out of town.  It was much easier to find hate for those birds when they would sit outside your window cawing as soon as the sun looked to be coming up.  As a teenager I loathed them because they robbed me of my most important thing. Sleep.  Before I even moved in with my dad and step-mum they had already taught Cody the poodle to chase those damn crows.  He was effective at scattering them, but they always came back.  

One day we were in the yard having a BBQ with some friends, probably whingeing about the crows, when we spot a couple behaving rather oddly down the back of the paddock.  One was flying overhead and the other was hopping along the ground, kind of like the bird version of a kangaroo.  It looked ridiculous.  That was, until we noticed what it was hopping at.  It was actively chasing a western brown snake out of our yard. It was really hard to stop Cody from trying to murder the crows. Pun intended.

Jump forward another few years to this morning.  On the way to work I always see crows, they seem to love hanging around my route to work.  I usually give them a mental salute.  Today was no exception.  A couple of crows were cawing out of a mango tree. 'Hey there crows', I would think.  I walked around the corner of the street and startled a crow eating something unidentifiable out of an old Chinese food container. To be honest, it kind of scared me too, he was kind of creepy... weird.  Then I hear it.  So many voices cawing out.  Oh, god. I see it...

At least thirty crows going nuts.  I suddenly feel like it is a scene from The Birds and do what any normal person would do. Film it.  Turns out there is a lady walking down the road supplementing their diet with old bread.  Thank christ. I thought they were there for my soul...