The vigilant American Crows

Ah, those rascal crows.

A large group of them are a constant sight on the wires and cables above the sidewalk in front of our house.

They hang out there because our next door neighbor feeds them several times a day, and observe me working in the garden every weekend.

These birds make very interesting sounds.

Aside from the usual "caws" they sometimes chortle and seem to mimic dogs and babies.

They also bring me gifts, now and then.

Yesterday while working in the garden I heard a constant clanging sound. I walked down to the sidewalk and looked to where the sound was coming from up the street.

There were a couple of crows hitting with their beaks an opened can which was upside down.

They pecked at the can until they flipped it right side up.

About fifteen minutes later, while working in the native garden, I suddenly noticed an opened, bent and empty cat food can lying in the middle of the yard. It must have been the same can the crows were pecking at earlier.

Months ago, a purple plastic lid for cans also appeared in the yard.

The crows had been playing with it that same day.

I left that lid in the grass to see if the crows would pick it up again, but they never did.