Present

Yearling crows are always tinged with a bit of coppery caramel coloring in their feathers. It's one of the ways you can distinguish them from the more mature crows.

That's not to say that Hopper is immature, by any means. He's quite bright and clever for his age.

He likes hearing that.

This is the first time in my life with crows that I have watched the kids grow up from the very beginning. This summer, Hopper will hang around his parents and help with the nest, feed babies, and teach them how to do things like forage for bugs and worms and play catch with the crow lady.
Next year, though, he'll probably venture out on his own. Maybe find a mate and start a family.
He's a cutie, and a very resourceful crow. It won't be hard for him to find someone.

But right now he still seems like such a kid. It's hard for me to imagine him "growing up and moving out." I'm still young enough that most of my human friends' kids are not ready to do those things, too, so I'm not familiar with this shock. Human kids age so slowly by comparison. Granted, time already flies by like a tweaker on a bicycle in SoCal at 2am after busting a car window and stealing the stereo and the change out of the console, but it flies much faster with your bird friends. I guess, you know, cuz they're birds. They fly by all the time.
🙄

The nice thing, though, is that spending time with kids like Hopper keeps me in the moment. Time stands still when you hang with Hopper.

Pilot stands still, too. For a long time. Until he gets sick of standing still and starts yanking the leash and pulling me toward the playground so we can have dog time and not crow time because time flies when you have a great dog, too, and you gotta stay present in those moments as well.

🖤

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