Crows are one of my favorite subjects.  They are very intelligent and keen observers.  This time of year the crows are transitioning from their gregarious behavior to pairing for the breeding season, which involves defending a territory and gathering nesting materials.  Last week I thought I observed a pair of crows working on a nest near my yard while I was out with my camera.  A crow landed on a dead limb on one of our fir trees and I casually noted that it was attempting to gather nesting materials. Strangely enough, I have never witnessed a crow gathering sticks from the ground… they always want to break sticks out of trees for their nests.  As I watched I saw this crow break off and drop two sticks.  Undeterred, it began wrestling the same limb for yet another stick.  Fortunately I had the  presence of mind to bring my camera to bear on its activities.

These aren’t great photographs.  I could improve them but fortunately the shutter speed was high enough (1/500 of a second) to stop most of the motion.  The shots are underexposed but I like the silhouette effect.  Here’s what I observed and photographed…

In this first photo, the crow has its back to me and is wrestling with the higher level of twig, attempting to separate it from the rest of the limb.

In this next photo the crow has successfully broken the small limb from the larger one, but it has lost its balance, fallen below the limb but still has a firm grip on the twig.

In this next photo you can clearly see that the twig has separated, but it is caught on the main branch.  The crow, despite being upside down, is determined to come away with its prize!

The crow suddenly releases its grip on the main branch and is now hanging from the main branch by the twig that it has broken free.  At this point it’s having to use its wings for balance and support.

Finally it has successfully freed the twig and is on its way back to the nest!

It was a lot of antics for one twig, but keep in mind that I had already seen it drop twigs at least twice previously!