Rookery Rooks Homepages : merlintherook.webs.com

(nb - this post is from The Hag, I'm just setting up the blog categories for now, josh)

What lead to studying Jackdaws...

I have been really lucky. Esma first really got me into studying other Corvids and their way of life in the wilds. ( see blog appreciation to Esma)

So we have found we have a Jackery of about 5,000 Jackdaws and about 200 Rooks with a few Crows joining in.

The study has taken a huge turn which I will add later. As each day brings a privilege of something new every day. And I have started to record the antic's which go on each/most days.

Here is some of the past which has lead to the ever growing log I have started to develop.

2009

I remember the first snows before Christmas. The electric in the village had gone out. And my joy to rush down the common while there was no light pollution was beyond my wildest dreams.

I walked past the what I now call the Jackery. I’m sorry to say I rather disturbed the jackdaws who let out loads of jack jack noises at my passing. It was an amazing night. snow covered the ground and there was even otter tracks in the snow showing a long tail being dragged along the ground.

I have had a thing about walking round our Common at night and I even brought my Children up to walk round the common at night. It gives you so much more insight into the wildlife activities. My answer to my Children if they said they where scared was " Its ok I’m the scariest thing round the common" which I think now in their 20's they would agree. But I digress from the Jackdaws.

I wasn’t keeping dates and now I wish I had.

One dusk evening in Januarys we walked out of The Little Owl woods

To see an amazing display of thousands of Jackdaws coming in to roost, That winter I think I saw it about 5 times in all.

Then it was time for nesting. I know this as I have had a pair of Jackdaws now having nested on my chimney for the last five years ( I will expand on these later in another Blog on here ) So I was no longer able to have a fire in my living room. from the middle of March beginning of April.

Then in the summer after all the births the Jackdaws and Rooks moved to Mirgiva woods for the summer of 2010.

Some evening's I would see Jackdaws coming in from all directions into Mirgiva woods. While on other's they would gather on fields before taking to the trees.

I’ve seen large groups of Rooks in the Saw Woods and out on the Crow Pond Field

Who have been there with the Pigs. Then flying over to the Horse field During the day.

So now I have started to record what happens most days.

And will be under the title Blog “Life of the Jackdaws“...

Life of the Jackdaws

Map　

I could do this in chart form. But for me its not just about analytical recording of facts. This is something that touches my heart deeply and brings so much Joy to my life.

Also part of my procedure now is to bow to the Jackdaw. Its my way of saying thank you and showing my respect to them.

30/01/2011

I was gathering wood from the yard next door. Late afternoon.

When a Big swath of mainly Jackdaws started to fly over. Some split off into smaller groups and did some wonderful circular displays, one group was only about 30 yards away from me. Then a big group went off to the North only to return again in a few minutes. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, the sky was a magnificent blue. While I just stood in awe. Feeling so privileged to see such brilliant antics and great flying displays. This lasted about half an hour Then they went to their Roost. In the Jackery woods.

1/02/2011

Had a visit to the Chimney today. From my couple.

I went out a bit earlier than usual for my Dog walk. And loads of Jackdaws and Rooks

had gathered in the Jackery wood up in the Poplar tree. ( it’s the highest tree in the wood )

Then a big flock came to join them and every one flew up had a grand fly round to then settle in the tree’s

They don’t use the Poplar tree during the night roost, Keeping to the lower trees.

( There is another story about the Poplar and will be included in the blog Other wildlife story’s)

3/02/2011

Unfortunately missed roost time today and yesterday. But was rewarded with an awful lot of chatter going on late into the night. Why? I haven’t a clue, It wasn’t even full moon. But was the night after Imbolc 2 Feb( the wake up call ) Wonder if that is what got into them?

The first call toward spring. It was also quite warm at this time.

5/02/2011

A windy cloudy and still warm day.

The Jackdaws were busy very early 3.45. A huge flock flew over the house and doing some grand displays right over the top of my head. Some large groups of a thousand while some others of about 30. Its very usual to see them in flock like this while they are not going to roost. Even my friend down in the village noted them flying over and she is about a mile and a half to the North. (As the crow fly's about a mile)

The sad thing was my friends Jo and Josh came over to see the Jakdaws go to Roost and even though we had about 200-300 fly over our heads. They didn’t Roost at the Jackery. I wondered if it was because a shoot had been going on over the river in the direction of Mirgiva wood. Mirgiva Wood is the summer roost (or was last year) although sometimes also a share of my Jackdaws and more Rooks roost over there for winter night too.

6/02/2011

Gone to the other end of the village at 1.30pm. To see a friend, Again noted a group of Jackdaws flying over. ( Are these guys following me Hahhahah)

No Roosting in the Jackery or Mirgiva again tonight. Where have they gone? I’m sad.

Afraid since I have been inspired by Corvids My driving is terrible as the eyes just carnt help noting Corvids are about and what they're up to. Doesn’t help conversation with other's if I’m outside either as the Corvids seem to take preference over anything that is being said.

8/02/2011

YERRRRRR Jackdaws back. And it’s a wet night. So was it the shooting ? Or as Jo reported to me she had seen some Corvids getting nest material today? Who knows with Corvids. They have been giving me the run-around for the last 2 years trying to work out a pattern. Thus now this almost a daily Blog.

9/02/2011

Jackdaw with a few Rooks in the Jackery. But also managed to be on the bank tonight and sounded like mainly Rooks with Jackdaws in Mirgiva woods tonight. Oh how I wish I could be in about 5 places all at the same time to really get a good view of all what is happening.

I need to be in about 2 places over at the Mirgiva wood. While One of me at the corner of Bat field, Another near the Oak at the North edge of 5 Corner Field. While another of me at the Bank next to the Jackery so I can be as close to the sound as I can possibly get. Because being so close to the sound as they come into the Jackery is something so special too, It sends chills through you the sheer volume of the sound..

10/02/2011

Didn’t get home till 6pm myself, Jackdaws already in Roost. Oh but what a magnificent sound to come home to. Makes every thing in the world seem right. While adding a big beam to my face.

11/02/2011

Great day out. Jo and Josh have come back to see the Jackdaws and we were not disappointed.

I could hear the Jackdaws and Rooks arriving on the Jackdaw field. My impatience for Jo and Josh to arrive was almost beyond me. Its not many times I've managed to see them on the fields near mine.

We got up to the field to see a great swath across the field and the tree in the Saw wood was also full of jack jack.

We got a beautiful display of them coming in to roost. Thank You Guys.

Looking up at the rookery the other day trying to work out a good angle to film them from and I'm sure one of them was going "aaargh" at me as it looked directly at me and sort of nodded it's head and put it's wings up a bit like they do when they're saying hello (several times!).

as i didnt get to know reigny, cloud or inkpen very well merlin is the only one who would do this to me so i reckon it must be him. of course if you call out his name he will immediately look away from you and pretend to be doing rooky things so you cant really tell!!

also we have a fantastic aerobatics team called the famous five who keep doing wonderful displays all the time, i wonder if he's one of them?

I'll try to get some footage of them soon

Happy new corvid year,

from Josh

Hi guys,

sorry it's been so  long since I updated my blog but i've been a pretty busy bird recently, so much to do an never enough time for a Rook to get it all done!

Well I have to say that I really quite like this life as a house bird, humans are very easily trained and managed as long as you remember to squawk really loudly when they are trying to eat their dinner or watch the telly. lol I have got the youngest, really hyper human well trained now, at first he was soooooo scary, I have to confess to having a wee bit of a panic every time he came into the room so I would squawk at him and now he gives me all sorts of lovely things to eat like pizza and crusts and bits out of his cheese sandwiches and he sits beside my cage and waffles to me, I have no idea what he's saying but he doesn't seem to think that's important. The other young human isn't so scary either and i have been brave enough to perch on his hand a couple of times now. What I don't understand is why these 2 young humans haven't fledged yet?? They certainly seem to be grown-up and capable of fending for themselves, humans are definately weird!

My human was very happy throughtout the summer as I had 5 very lovely tail feathers and I must say I did look rather dashing with a full tail but I broke them all last week when I missed my perch, (she says I fell off it but I most certainly did not!!) so now I'm back to having only one feather in my tail again. It's a bit of a nuisance really cause it makes keeping my balance even more difficult, still i manage pretty well. I've decided I really don't need to get up on the highest point when I come out of my cage now, the back of my humans chair or the arm of the couch is really quite high enough although I must tell you that I have discovered today the benefits of perching on her shoulder, it's really quite good fun up there, I wish I had thought to do it sooner.

My human has decided to get concerned about my lack of fresh air and daylight, I've tried telling her that I'm quite content with things the way they are but she is insistant that I need to be able to go outside. She feels that I would probably panic if I went out into an aviary or a cage outside (I agree!) and so She wants me to learn to wear jesses!!!!!!! What does she think I am?????? A doll to dress up??? I can tell you that I am not amused with this idea but she insists it is the safest way for me to get some fresh air. I had my second lesson with the darned things on today, it's really not on you know cause she has to turn me upside down to get the things onto my legs, very undignified indeed. I promplty showed her that I knew exactly how to get them off but unfortunately she hangs on to the other end now so I can't remove them. At first i really didn't like feeling 'stuck' on her hand but actually I'm getting used to it and it's not so bad. She took me for a walk round the whole house today which was quite interesting and she was very happy because I didn't try to get off her hand even once but i was actually quite enjoying myself. (best not to let her know that or she will get very smug!). I really do quite like coming out of my cage now, it makes me feel very superior cause all the other animals have to go outside, well all except Sophie one of the little dogs, i took great delight in landing on her head the other day! lol I like to sit on the back of my humans chair while she cleans out my cage, i don't know why she insists in doing that, doesn't she realise how much time and effort it takes me to get it to that stage, it's very frustrating when i have to rip up all that newspaper again and scatter all the toys and food into the four corners, still, if it keeps her happy to clean it out I better let her get on with it.

She says I'm really starting to look like a grown-up Rook now, i've lost most of the feathers around the base of my beak and only have a few left on the top, my leg feathers are really quite shaggy now and I'm quite a bit bigger than I was a year ago. I shall be very handsome in the spring. She is also very happy with because I 'talk' to her a lot now. I make quiet little chatty noises when she wakes me up in the morning and when i perch on her hand, i shout very loudly if she leaves the room too long 'though and also when she pulls the cover over my cage at bedtime, then i really shout but it doesn't stop her doing it! Ah well, I shall just keep squawking I suppose.

Well i better go and do some more squawking at the dogs and be rude to the cat again. Stay well everybody and take care.

Lots of love, Magic xx

All the way from the west country came two birds in need of new homes, a rather tatty crow and a tiny cornish jackdaw. The crow, now named Edgar, has gone off to live with Sam "the Hag" and I foresee a long and meaningful relationship. The little jackdaw, which is a female identifiable by her diminutive size and dark colouring, is settling in here at The Rookery and enjoys calling to the wild jackdaws when she is out in the aviary. They visit most days and have been coming quite close, I suspect Poet, the jackdaw we had here last summer is amongst them!

Born to be wild! (Some weeks later...)

As I went to get jill jackdaw in from the aviary, she took off from ground level and flew away! She flew right round the house and alighted on the porch above the front door, my husband went and got a ladder to try and help me get her down but she took off again and flew to the top of the cedar of lebanon, a huge tree, and there was nothing else we could do. I would say her flying was a good 85% of normal, quite impressive for a disabled bird! I think she then moved on to the rookery where there were jackdaws at the time. I saw her in the morning with 3 or 4 other jackdaws and she jack jacked back to me but had no intention of coming down. If I had known she could fly I would have handled things differently, but I can't put the clock back. This little bird wanted to be with others of her own kind.

It puts me in mind of Paul Mc Cartney's song,

Black Bird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly,

All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise,

All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free.

Mystic passes beyond

Mystic was seen by the vet shortly before he died, and he could find nothing physically wrong with his wings so he must have had some brain damage, possibly quite severe as when he got down on the floor he couldn't manage to hop back up to the sofa, and when in his cage couldn't get from perch to perch, or even turn round on the perch he was on. His attempts at bathing were always feeble, standing in a bowl as if he wanted to get wet but didn't really know how, which was why I had taken to giving a splash in the kitchen sink. On the day he died, I had put him back on the sofa after bathing when he seemed to sort of collapse, he was gasping and went all pale inside the mouth, I wrapped him in a towel and tried to revive him, but he just went.

God Speed you black Emperor, fly far, fly free, fly forever.

Mystic Crow has died! Jo was bathing him and he went into shock and did not recover

so we are now a corvid free household for the time being

it has been a really awful year for rescues for us, merlin left us, then greenwing died, then inkpen flew away, then reigny escaped and cloud joined her and then mysitc died just as he was growing all his feathers back even his leg feathers.

plus we have lost at least one other bird along the way,

let's just hope next year does not bring such a huge payload of abject misery.

Reigny goes flyabout:

Reigny got away when I was tring to bring her in from the aviary, and has been residing in the rookery ever since. She comes to me every day for cheese and other treats, but does'nt seem desperately hungry, so is definitely finding her own food too.

Despite the gathering of wild rooks which happens every morning now between 5 and 9 am, she is staying put when they leave. 

Cloud is anxious to join her, and as her adult plumage is improving all the time we will release her very soon (unless Reigny decides to come back and live in the house!)

The duckling are turning into ducks & we have a new "rook" hen, who is called Queen Mab!

Hi Folks, sorry it's been such a long time since I last updated you all but my human is really hard to pin down sometimes and really claws don't mix well with keyboards!!!!!!

Well, I'm really getting these humans wrapped around my tail feathers, as my human sits typing this for me I am squawking VERY loudly at her, I love to wind her up by making a racket, it's good fun. I especially like to make a noise when I smell toast, yum! and when they all sit down to eat their dinner. I think She doesn't mind really and She says she really likes it when I make funny gurgling noises, one day I will surprise her and say something proper!

She is really busy just now what with handling foals, did you know foals can play football?? That was news to me! working the other horses, setting up her treatment area for her healing/complementary therapies and generally doing 'stuff' but She is very good and spending time with me too. I particularly like it when She spends time with me as I can get all superior and important as She shuts all the other animals outside!!! I always said Corvids were smarter than any other critters.

I am much happier about coming out of my cage these days you know, I've decided it's nice to have a change of scene and I don't even feel the need to get high up anymore, I'm quite content to perch on the back of the chair, I even had a go at perching on Her mate's knee the other week, it really wasn't too scary at all. I've made my human very happy recently as I've decided it's really about time I was friendlier when I'm out of my cage so now I perch on her hand and watch the world go by. I don't even mind too much when She has visitors, I've realised that these humans can't get into my cage so I know I'm quite safe. She says I still look very small and scruffy, I'm losing the feathers on my face slowly but I've finished moulting so don't know if the full scere will develop this year or not, and my tail is still very scruffy, She reckons I may have permenantly damaged my tail when I had my accident as it's still not grown back properly since I've been here, but She says She loves me just the way I am and although I may be a little threadbare around the edges I look very healty and shiny and my colours show up beautifully.

There has been a great deal of Corvid activity around here recently, there have been some really gorgeous Rooks wandering about the place, great big, glossy adult ones, She says they are much, much bigger than me but I say 'size isn't everything'! The Rooks used to only pass over on their way to and from the rookery down in the village but now they stop off to see what's what and annoy the local bird life. We've had surprise visits from Jackdaws too, we have never had Jackdaws here before so it's really nice to see them, apparently She has a couple more photos to put up of them, one is of a Jackdaw with one blue eye and one yellow eye, strange I say! The baby Jackdaws are funny, waiting to be fed although they are capable of feeding themselves. We don't know why they have decided to come visiting now when they never did before. The Hoodies are still about but they too just pop in for a visit as they seem to live in a stand of Scots Pine on the other side of the croft. They are big noisy critters but we like to see them about except for when they decide to scatter all the horse droppings before She gets them all picked up! She still hasn't been out and about to try and get photos of the white corvids as She still doesn't have a car but She is determined to get some pics someday!

She has been telling me all about Jo's batch of assorted babies and tells me the photos and videos are lovely, it's nice for us Corvids to know there are humans out there who are happy to help us out when we are in need, well done Jo!

Well I better sign off now as She still has some jobs to do apparently, my cue to start making a noise again!

Take care Corvid lovers,

Magic.

The rookling from Em is called cloud! (another aspect of the valkyrie Mist)

and Reigny is actually feeding him (her) herself! Quite an achievement for an under one year old, she will actually put bits of food into clouds mouth rather than eat them herself.

Poor Mystic crow is doing well, we have even had a couple of CAWS out of him, only a very few as yet. Some feathers look like they are starting to grow back, just two little stripes down his chest as yet but hopefully they will all grow back soon.

The cloud, mist and rain associations also have connexions with merlins magic and his magic mists, some of the magic is featured in this story Merlin's Prophecy but it all gets a bit weird and hard to follow!

Jo has also hatched some call duck ducklings who have three hen mothers and a cockerel father!

here's a video of them.....

Josh