A largish, fuzzy, grey-and-black ball of something fell from a huge tree above and landed on the ground with a thump just beside the footpath. It shook itself a little, and among its grey fuzzy feathers a black eye looked at me...
Up above, a lot of upset cawing was heard. I'm no expert at crow language, but I think the conversation went something like this:
- I told you he was not ready to fly yet! Why did you have to push him??
- But he should be fully fledged by now! We can't keep him in the nest forever!!
- But look at him ! He hardly even knows how to move his wings! He might be hurt!!
- Oh, I'm sure he'll be all right... Just give him a moment... He'll figure it out...
- How?? If he couldn't get the hang of it from up here, how on earth is he going to get started from down there?? Oh no, look... There's a human down there as well, and she has seen him... At least help me caw as loud as you can to scare her away!!
Both of them were now cawing so loud that I could no longer make out what they were saying. Guessing that at least some of it was aimed at me rather than at their offspring, I decided to back off and leave them to sort out their family quarrel among themselves.
Curiosity drove me back to the spot some 10-15 minutes later, though. The fledgling was still on the ground, but seemed to have moved into a slightly less ruffled and more comfortable-looking position (as in the photo). The parents were still cawing loudly from above - whether quarreling, giving flying instructions, or just warning him about human presence again was hard to tell. As I have absolutely zero experience of teaching birds to fly, I again decided I had better just trust them to solve the situation their own way, though. At least the only wild animals in the cemetery (besides other birds) are the two hares, who I think are unlikely to interfere...
