Crows !

Crow is one of the bird that has been introduced to everyone from the time of feeding by a mother in India. Crow joins the kids during story hours too in the form of 'Old lady frying a vada / kaaka vada sutta kadhai', 'Crow and the pebbles', 'Crow and crocodile' etc :-) . I could also recollect that during my childhood days we believed that if two completely dark black crows are seen, it is great lucky day. If you see only a single completely dark black crow, you may need to pinch your nearby friend so that it turns out be lucky. Interestingly that led to lot of pinch play among the friends. The term 'Completely dark black black' refers to crows that have their necks also black in color just as the color of their wings/tail. Recently, crows have entered into tamil movies (comedy role) also in the form of 'kaaka biryani / anju roopa biryani' jokes.

On certain occasions during the morning hours on saturday/sunday, i feed the crows. In my area , they appear to be pure 'chappathitarians' (Yup, they prefer to eat only chappathis made of wheat) . Nowadays the crows are very hi-fi and concerned much about their diet more than the humans :-). Yes, if i try to feed puri, they do not feed on it quickly as it is bit more oily than chappathi. If i give them Dosa / Murukku , they give me a naughty look and frame a question 'What about chappathi ?' (kaaka akakakka). They are very much concerned about healthy diet. They come regularly by around 7.45 to 8.15 pm and sit on compound walls and telephone / television cables before the window. If they are not fed for nearly 15 minutes, they would come and sit on the window door to check our availability and also to signal their arrival for breakfast :-) They will not caw on arrival, unless they are terribly hungry for that day ! Few of the crows are good fielders that they would catch a piece of chappathi using their beaks :-) . I like the manner in which the crows do a series of short jumps (7 to 12 times) on the horizontal metal bar on top of the front gate after picking up their breakfast to reach the pillars(compound wall pillar) at the end. It appears like a little cute dance in joy !

In India, lot of crows can be seen near the temples and residential areas (close to food sources) ! They are typically called as 'House Crow' in India.