This morning, I went into the back yard and saw something rustling around inside my landlord's open bag of horticultural sand. Seeing that the rustling continued when I got closer, I figured a rat or a squirrel had somehow gotten into the bag and couldn't escape. I took a closer look and saw that it was actually a crow, just sitting inside the bag, on top of the sand! It was trapped, pecking at the plastic walls and acting distressed.

I went inside and got some gloves, my camera, and Vincent. Then we went outside and helped the little guy out of the bag. I reached in with gloves on, expecting it to bite or poke me with its beak. But it just let me grab it, even though it squawked and struggled a bit. I put it on the ground next to the bag, and stood back. We could see it was just a little crow, with a short tail and a high-pitched voice! It stumbled away from us a short distance, then began to regain its composure. It hopped up onto a wall, then jumped over onto the backyard fire pit, looking at us. It made some caws, calling to its family. We stayed with it for a few minutes, hoping mum and dad crow would come help it. Vincent retrieved some bread and tried to toss a few bits at the baby, but it didn't understand.

After a few more minutes, we heard adult crows cawing, and the baby responded! Soon, a big crow swooped down and landed in a nearby tree. Another one joined it, and they moved to a power line hanging over our yard. The two of them cawed in quick succession, causing the baby to make many cries and ask for food. But the adults just kept cawing, until finally the baby fluttered up onto the trellis, nearer to them. Once we had backed away a bit more, the baby received some food from one of the parents.


Remember, if you find a baby bird, its parents are probably around and keeping an eye on it!! Never try to capture one unless you're 100 percent sure it's been abandoned. Our story had a happy ending, so we're lucky... we don't have to take in a hungry baby crow! We wonder if that crow will remember us?

<3