CROW

Crow is a very common bird found in every nook and corner of India.  It is a very simple, humble and not-so-cute looking bird whom everybody likes to hate.

Crow has some unique and good qualities which are very important for us to learn.  They live in large groups and move in groups.  The group is known as a "flock".  When one of finds food somewhere he/she would immediately call all the members of the flock to come and share the food.

They call the flock in a unique style "kaww" and there is a long "Kaww" and a short "Kaww" for their communciation.  Crows are very noisy as they call "kaww" "kaww" non-stop and can be a nuisance.  In some countries they are regarded as "public nuisance".

We have a belief that if Crow comes and calls "kaww" there would be a guest visiting the house that day.  It is a message to the family from the Crow that we have to be prepared to receive a visitor.  This belief is proved right several times as I have personally experienced this while living in Chennai.  There is also a practice that when the food is cooked in the morning we have to first feed the crow before feeding anyone in the family.  We do this as we believe that the Crow is the transient stage of the elders who have died in the family in recent times.

Crow is considered very intelligent.  In some countries the crows have learnt to use bread crumbs as bait for catching fish.  They are intelligent enough to use tools.  There is a wonderful song about Crow in "Parasakthi" the first film in which the great legend Sivaji Ganesan acted and it is a treat to watch that song any day:


Crows are omnivorous and can eat anything and everything.  When I used to live in Santhome in Chennai we had a huge open terrace and we used to feed the crows with a variety of things.  They would come as a flock and enjoy eating whatever we feed them with including bread, biscuits, cooked rice, cooked vegetables, etc.  They also feast on dead rats on the road side and any left over food that is found near the dust bins.  They are scavengers with a wide ranging diet from grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables, meat, insects, etc.  They need about 300 grams of food every day and can survive on any kind of a diet/cuisine.  Much of what Crows eat is actually garbage and human waste.  There is an estimate that there are 34 million crows in India and at an average consumption of 300 grams each they are actually clearing a huge amount of garbage and wastage.

I like the look, walk, style, call, i.e., "kaww" and the intelligence of Crow.  The Crow's contribution to the society is completely unnoticed and mostly ignored.  I must thank my friend Sriraj for suggesting this topic for my blog.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
31st March 2013.