Yesterday I was out hanging clothes on the sunny line as the crows in the neighbor’s Douglas fir worked on their nest. So I just had to share this image from my new book, Crow Planet. Amazing local artist Dan Cautrell created gorgeous lino-cuts for each chapter. This one is called “Dwelling,” and I think it’s my favorite.
This is the season that everyone starts calling to ask why crows are dive-bombing their heads. They are, of course, protecting their nests, eggs, and soon their fledglings. It’s a seasonal behavior, and will cease as the chicks grow into sturdy young adults. Dive-bombing makes crows seem aggressive, or even “mean.” I’m not a crow apologist, but I do think we need to remember that because they are so large, and they have such big nests, crows don’t have the advantage of quiet, hidden chick-rearing that many birds do. They resort to cawing and swooping only in order to protect their young. If you are scolded by a crow this time of year, just try to avoid it–cross the street, and act uninterested.
All the beautiful Crow Planet prints are available for sale. Contact artist Dan Cautrell through his Fusion Press Studio website.
What gorgeous art work! Can’t wait to see all of it.
Yes, I am very anxious to have a copy of Crow Planet in my hands. Meanwhile, I am scoping out where to string my clothesline in the back yard. One question, if I only have one shirt to dry on it, is it then a “cloline?” 🙂
Pingback: Clothesline Bans and Laundry Outlaws (part one of a short series)
Could not resist a comment.
In the mountains outside Breckenridge, CO, the crows are more like ravens – they are huge, probably the better to work their way through the big winds. (I know nothing about bird species).
They love to hang out and party at the small wastebasket we keep at the picnic tables at the Nordic center where I work. If we forget to empty the trash the night before, and there is a particularly beautiful sunset, we are greeted in the morning by filched, grubby paper plates lined up along the wall behind the bin. It’s as if they were having dinner *and* a show.
I have to buy “Crow Planet.”
Cheers!
I am reading “Crow Planet” and loving it! Thank you for seeing the beauty in what often is regarded as mundane. I appreciate how you illustrate the similarities of people and crows and bring it into a message of conservation and mindfulness. I look forward to reading your other books and enjoying your blog. Thanks again for the inspiration!