Taken at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve in Carmel, California, this American Crow was quite inquisitive and not frightened by the rambunctious four year old, who was hurtling smooth pebbles into the water at an otherwise alarming pace or the amateur photographer fumbling to fit his telephoto lens on his camera.
As you can see in the gallery “Birds,” I have a fascination with blackbirds – crows in particular. Be it Wallace Stephens’ Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, or stories of crows fashioning tools or dropping walnuts in an intersection so that they could be crushed by the cars and then swooped up and enjoyed by the ingenious little creatures, I have always felt that crows have an anthropomorphic quality, a certain misunderstood humanity about them. I think this photograph captures the beauty and thoughtfulness of this particular crow, who was patently observing me as much as I was observing him.
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