The Black Shadow

It must be a boy thing!  This defending of territory must be a boy thing.  Having just moved in, we didn’t know the neighbourhood rules or who the local bully was, but we were soon to find out.

Walking outside our caravan to sit in the shade of a casuarina tree instantly brought a dark shadow flying in on the attack.  He then stood guard from above in the tree, “caawing” every now and then to assert his presence.  Making a sudden run for the shop or pool sent some secret signal to the crow to “fly in low and harass” us, big black wings sweeping past just inches above our heads as he swooped down in a series of lurched raids which mimicked our rush for safety – from tree to tree.

The intensity of his attacks varied and eventually we worked out his territory and where his nest was.  We struck a truce and made long detours ‘around’, ‘away from’ and ‘nowhere near’ it, on our way to anywhere.  He still watched us balefully, wide yellow eyes tracking us from his perch on the shed roof or “caawing” loudly as he beat his wings powerfully through the air or landed lumpily atop a green bush in close proximity – in what looked a lot like chest-beating and bicep-flexing.

As I said, it must be a boy thing after all!