Crows like to hang around people in hopes of a tid-bit-hand-out.........Crows have a history of being welcome in many different places. Some think they are a sign of good luck. I like to think that. They are paired for life and most of the time if you see one, the other won’t be too far away. I wouldn’t call them scavengers, but they can make a living on many things and in many places. They are always working together during the nesting periods. Anne’s grandfather had one in Alpine, Texas. Anne’s grandparents were retired and living in the Holland Hotel in Alpine. Anja Wilson was his name and he made friends with a crow by leaving tid-bits on the windowsill of the open window of the second story of their hotel room. Anja was regular with the treats and the crow got gentler and gentler coming after the morsels......... The crow got so gentle that Anja could take him downstairs to the Tap Room and they would share a glass of beer.
I had a crow that I found not far from Sheffield and he was crippled. Not sure what happened to him but it was close to the highway and I figured he got hit by a vehicle.
His wing was injured and he was unable to fly. But he could sure run and flap pretty hard, and I finally winded him and caught him. I had a big pile of rocks in my back yard and I tethered him with a leather thong to one of the big rocks.He was happy there and I could feed and visit with him while I was coming and going to the studio.
He got gentle enough to ride on my arm and sit in the studio while I painted. He was quite a local attraction. He would tolerate all people and sure look forward to going with me, riding on my arm. I finally got to where I could turn him loose and he would wander around the neighborhood and return about supper time. But he always enjoyed his freedom more than anything else and got to wandering further and further from the studio.
My neighbors would report to me his wanderings The week before his seventy-sixth birthday in 1964, Dobie received the first copy of Cow People in the morning mail. Later that day, he died in his sleep during a nap. “The important thing in life is to see clearly,” J. Frank Dobie once advised a young admirer. “See all you can. And above all, live by what you, yourself, see.”