A Year In Redwood

You are not going to believe it folks, but we have new residents here at Oldfarm, Redwood.

And you all thought that pigs were noisy????  Forget it.  Pigs are such quiet things compared to our new residents, who we hope will turn out to be guests…. and will leave soon.

Meet the McCaws.

Mr. and Mrs. McCaw

Yes, we have 2 rooks staying with us.

They fell from their nests in a really bad storm a couple of weeks back.  We rescued them from being decimated by the dogs.

We had heard that rooks are intelligent birds, and these two certainly have proven that theory to be correct.  They come looking for us when they are hungry.  They sit at the kitchen door, making a rumpus when they want food.  (Watch feeding time )  They’ve been known to peck at the window to draw our attention to them.

As we work around the grounds, they fly and land nearby.

They have mastered flying.  Landing was the bigger problem, but they are getting better at it.  It is fun to watch them ‘talk’ to each other… they seem to have different ‘tones’ that they use.

I will be expecting the ‘men in white coats’ to come to the door after I type this next bit….. but, yes, we can tell their call as distinct from the other hundred rooks that live in the trees about us.

Did you know that it is supposedly very bad luck to get rid of a rookery?  At last count we have over 60 nests in the trees at the front of the house.

The feeding thing is the next hurdle to overcome…. we are trying to teach them to peck at the ground.

You see, you now have confirmation.  This is a total mad house.