Hi folks! I decided to make a change at the last minute and reorder our posts. After looking at the topics, decided the one I had worked up would align better to the upcoming smoochie holiday than the one that was scheduled to fall on said smoochie holiday. The original one didn’t seem the best fit symbolically, plague mask and all ha. Easy fix, just push that one to the front – you’ll understand as you get to the body of the post. This switch also gives me a chance to get fully caught up on the Average Year reporting. Managed to get all the previous years wrapped up (final charts, trip reports, etc. link here) and all the graphs updated for this year (link here). Still working on updating the trip reports, but now current up to at least 1/17/2025. Officially at 243 species for the year which is a great start! Enough about me, time to get you to Brad’s latest adventure – this one from across the pond (and possibly a catalyst for a new haunted trail theme).
Take it away Brad…
I’m never quite sure which order I will finish the stories for Wildlife Intrigued. Let me give you a brief setup before I begin. Jan and I were fortunate enough to be visiting her English relatives in England. We were staying with Jan’s cousin Louise and her husband Steve. Louise’s parents Margaret and John lived a few minutes away. The extended family, including pups Finn and Red, elected to take a 3-day holiday to Dorset on the coast of the English Channel. In October. The temperatures were about what you would expect being that far north on the globe. While there, we all decided to check out a few of the many seaside villages along The Channel.
Now to rejoin the rest of the story already in progress . . .
The sun was still hanging high in the sky when we arrived at Lulworth Cove in Dorset, southern England. I was amazed at how many people were seaside during October. Temps were in the 40’s F (or single digits Celsius) with more than a breeze but not quite a wind. Jan and I had just gotten out of the car and were walking to the seaside with her cousin Louise’s husband Steve and Louise’s mum Margaret (John elected to stay warm in the thatched cottage). Louise had taken the Jaaaaaaaaag (I didn’t’ use the appropriate amount of letter “a’s” in my prior story from England link here) to visit a friend who lived nearby in Dorset. That meant Steve was going to chauffeur us in the Land Rover because I don’t think the relatives were ready for my driving on the other side of the road yet.
Lulworth Cove is known for some unique geology and a protected beach with some very nice blue water. Obviously, no one was playing in the water except for a few seabirds. In fact, I was one of the very few people wandering along the sand at water’s edge. The scenery was magnificent. However, recent landslides onto the beach kept most visitors away from the base of the high cliffs.
We were all getting a bit chilly and decided to walk back through the shops on the way to the car park in hopes of finding a warm drink.
Soon enough, one of us had gone to look for a coffee. Jan had wandered away to look for me because I started looking for her. Steve, the smart one in the group, was holding the dogs (Red and Finn) waiting for all of us to wander back to the car park. After all, he had the keys to the Land Rover.
Waiting for the group to coalesce again, I noticed this black bird sort of stalking the passersby.
Quite Nevermorish eh!?! Hit the jump to read more about this eerie bird.
This is a Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a member of the crow family. A +1 for Wildlife Intrigued I believe.
It wasn’t roosting in a tree or sitting on the edge of a roof. It was walking among the people and the landscaped flower boxes, checking out everything it could see. Rooks, like their corvid cousins, are very curious about a great many things.
These jet-black birds have large grey bill, and the grey on their “face” makes them look somewhat distinctive. The “nose” reminds me of the mask that “healers” would wear during the Black Death. You know the one, the really long snout that looked like a beak. Check out the photo from the British Museum here for the full visual impact. OK, now that you’ve seen the pictures, you won’t be able to unsee that for the rest of the story. If I would have heard the phrase, “bring out your dead,” I wouldn’t have been surprised.
Rooks and Crows are roughly the same size. However, the crown of a Rook’s head tends to be more peaked than other corvids. That can be a great field identifier if you happen to have both of them standing together to compare and contrast.
I know it looks like I’ve published the same photo twice. But in reality, the Rook was “pacing”. It seemed to lock eye contact, look away, take a couple of steps in one direction. Then this Rook would reverse its path to end up nearly precisely where it started. Lather, rinse, and repeat. The Rook was clearly not bothered by people in close proximity. It probably viewed tourists as a quick food source. Or it just liked watching humans to see what crazy thing they might do next. Corvids in general are some of the smartest animals on the planet, and this one seemed to be studying me. I hope I made a good impression.
Rooks are very social and will often roost with Crows or Jackdaws (possible future story). There is safety in numbers, and possibly more opportunities for gossip. They can be found across all of Europe and most of Asia, and as far west as Greenland and Iceland. Rooks are known to be able to recognize human faces; best be nice to them if you frequent an area with Rooks. None of us wants to be the owner of that car; you know the one where every bird decides to poop on it at the same time. Rooks have good memories and will cache food for lean times. They will often share food with a partner.
Finally, our group was all back together. The pups were anxious to get going too, so we walked back to the car, warm drinks in hand, for the trip back to the vacation cottage.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Rook photos, please visit here.
Credits
Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing.
Life Intrigued 