A Close Crow Call

This morning the crows were cawing loudly. Although I am not a huge fan of crows, the noise they created made me get up from my chair and go to the window to see what the commotion was all about.

Normally, the crows look in the direction of the threat when they caw this loudly. I tried to look for a cat, the most common threat that would be worthy of such noise. However, no cat was in sight. A snake perhaps? However, no slithering snake was to be seen. Neither a dangerous dog nor a cheerful cow. Now, I was curious. Why were the crows making such a huge racket when there was no apparent danger?

I then looked at the crows. Are they gone mad perhaps? They seemed to be talking loudly to each other, actually more like yelling at each other. Their disturbing gathering was around the big badam (almond) tree that stands in front of my window and obstructs my view of the beautiful sun set in the evenings. There, in this tree was the threat — kite thread or, in Hindi, manja! 

A baby crow was entwined in the orange thread, stuck, and hanging for dear life. The glass-coated string went round her neck and had tied her legs; she seemed lifeless. I thought she was dead, but the crows knew she was not. They kept shouting words in their language at this young helpless bird. She listened carefully. Then, as if after complete assimilation of each instruction being thrown at her, she did what was told and set herself free by removing each knot that held her captive. After untying the last knot by pulling the string apart with her beak, she climbed onto the branch that she hung from about a few moments back. 

The onlooking crows cheered her with a joyful round of cawing. After a minute of exuberant cawing, each crow flew away in its own direction. I returned to my chair and wrote about it. 

Language and timely communication saved a listening baby crow today!