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The resident
pair of crows toyed with the idea of building a nest
last week. They landed in the dead top of a large
cypress, one carrying a stick, the other with a
frond of ash leaves. The first spent a few minutes
trying to wedge its stick among the dead twigs, while
the second merely watched. It was a very half-hearted
attempt at nest-building but the surprise was that
they had even thought about it in early October.
Crows normally
start building their nests in March but, as with some
other birds, they sometimes show signs of breeding
activity in the autumn. Tits examine nestboxes,
several birds have bouts of singing, including the
chiff-chaff I heard a couple of weeks ago, and there
are even records of autumnal egg-laying.
It used to be
said that these unseasonal activities were due to the
birds being fooled into thinking it was spring when
the day-length in autumn is the same as the
day-length in spring – the normal trigger for
breeding. I do not think this is so, because bouts of
singing, courtship and nesting can be seen at almost
any time throughout the winter. It seems to me that
some birds at least start to think about breeding as
soon as they have finished their post-breeding moult.
By straining at the leash, as it were, they will be
able to get down to business as soon as conditions are
right after winter.
Incidentally,
these crows are in my bad books. I was very nearly
able to record a buzzard flying over my garden but
they chased it away!
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