[Granville-Hough] Teen Trauma in the Crow Family - 6 Mar 2009

[Trustees and Executors for Granville W. Hough]

It is a time of trama when the young want to try their wings.  As I
departed for my morning walk one day last spring, I noticed the crows
were making a big
fuss, so much so that I tried to determine if I wore something
different, or if the kestrels were stalking them.  As I got to the stop
sign where I make a turn I noticed a young crow on the ground.  He had
new feathers and was very quiet.  He paid no attention to me.  He had
apparently attempted his first flight a day or two early and had lost
his nerve or his air support.  Thirty minutes later, when I returned, he
was still there.  Later that afternoon, only one crow was keeping vigil,
probably his mother; but the new flyer had probably crawled under some
brush to get out of sight.  In subsequent days, I saw the young crow,
with his feathers growing and making short flights.  I do not know
whether they fed him or if he learned to eat things himself.  After
about a week, I saw him no more.  (I say him, though it could have been 
her.  I just made an assumption that anyone who would try to fly too 
soon would be a him; but there are also bold hers in this world.)
    I do not quite know what to make of the fallen crow, but it perhaps 
illustrates facts of life that are there for all to see.  The distress 
of the adult crows
shows their concern.  Each had gone through this rite of passage and
each could remember the sheer terror of each moment when the air
currents moved them away from their home nest and its web of limbs and
support. Some had a soft landing on a lower limb in a nearby tree.
Others crashed on hard places, and a few were immediately intercepted
and gobbled up.  All the parent crows could do was to give encouraging
cries and perhaps demonstrate how to land in another tree.
	The parent crows could all recall that you had to learn to fly before
you could get to the food gathering places.  It was the first step on
the road to independence, but you also had to learn how to be a crow in
a flock society. If you get out of your place and do something non-crow,
some elder will peck you really hard.
    How much of our behavior is innate and God-given, and how much is
learned?  In the larger sense, we behave about the same as the crows.
We squawk a lot of Polonius-type advice, but the young consider
themselves to be
in a predicament where the advice is outdated and does not apply.
    Coming Soon!  "Same sex marriage, and what it means for polygamy and
polyandry;"  Once you get on a slippery slope, the only natural way is
down.  Even the monogamous crows get nervous!