Saturday 29 February 2020
An extra post.
Today has been a lovely but cold day here. Coming in I got the central heating going and then came to my computer and read your replies - most stimulating so thank you for them. I put the 'new post' back up because my farmer knew that I loved rooks more than any other bird in the world. My back garden backs on to quite a large field and only one more field after that and the lane down to our farm is there. The same rooks that cross my bungalow morning and evening on their way to and from their feeding grounds are the same rooks that crossed the farm each morning and I have always delighted in them. Five minutes ago thousands of rooks rose from the field behind my bungalow - the noise was deafening - and circled overhead - I grabbed my camera but by that time they had gone so you will have to imagine them. But they gave me great joy and I like to think that my farmer somehow had a hand in creating the display.
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16 comments:
I am sure he did.
How lovely to see and hear them.
We have noticed that "our" rooks seem to have been absent this year. We are worried as we don't know why. They used to congregrate in the trees across the road before settling in the woods above us. Perhaps the new owners across the road have done something? Who knows.
I would have loved to see this display. I like to watch the starlings on our seafront when they gather to settle on the pier each evening.
I often say to my husband that I should have a camera permanently around my neck, lol, as I never have it with me when I need it.
Briony
x
Rooks often gather in a field like that just prior to going to roost in some nearby woodland. They tend to join up into bigger and bigger roosts throughout the winter. You may have their company for a few more nights but they should soon be nesting, which I think signals the end of their communal roosts. Mark Cocker wrote a wonderful nature book called Crow Country in which he charts his obsession with the rooks near his home in Norfolk. Since they tend to favour well farmed country your Farmer may well be a factor in their their appearance.
I always enjoy reading about the rooks and I am sure your Farmer had something to do with this lovely show.
Tearing up reading this.
parsnip
What a beautiful treat for you to see all those rooks. Perhaps the farmer arranged it for you.
I love to hear you talk about the rooks. Your farmer knows what you love and does not want you to miss them.
I love Rooks to Weave. I don;t understand how some people are so prejudiced against corvids.
Without a doubt, he did, Weave. A bit of mischief for him on February 29...may be a holiday for all angels.
I am sorry we do not have rooks in this country, but all the more for you, dear Weave.
I don't know how to tell the difference between Rooks and Crows, so I can't be sure about ours. As there is no 'rookery' as such, I imagine they are Crows. They spend their days chasing the Buzzards.
Rooks is lovely word.
I am fond of most animals, and love watching and hearing the birds around the house, in the neighbourhood, on the fields, in woodland and anywhere else. Many people have a rather distorted image of certain species, such as rooks, crows and magpies, or doves and pigeons. Some like only those birds that sing beautifully, or look pretty, and consider all,others a nuisance, or cruel, or dirty. How narrow-minded they are, and how different from such thinking you are, dear Pat!
I quietly curse rooks/crows when they attack local bird tables at first light - waking up half the neighbourhood. We are close to a small wood, and some years they decide it's easier to 'poach' their food from domestic sources.
The rest of the time, I, too, love to see them and all other birds.
Cro - there is an old saying: If you see more than two crows together they're rooks.
Crows pair up and usually stay just the two of them. Rooks congregate together - that is one way of telling. Crows are also slightly larger.
Cro Magnon said...
I don't know how to tell the difference between Rooks and Crows, so I can't be sure about ours. As there is no 'rookery' as such, I imagine they are Crows. They spend their days chasing the Buzzards.thanks
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