Birds just want to have fun
Joey was a real character, a foundling that had been reared as a chick by a young boy.
Whether he was simply found or perhaps taken from the nest, I know not.
However, the boy’s mother eventually had enough of Joey’s persistent mischief making and misdemeanours. As a result she instructed her son to get rid of it.
Meanwhile, Joey had discovered a nearby roadside cafe – food, if you were clever enough, for free throughout the day from customers’ plates. What was at first an amusement soon became a thorough nuisance.
Members of the corvid clan attract varying degrees of hostility and Joey, being a jackdaw, was no exception. His regular presence at the cafe became such a nuisance that I was asked to intercede. As he was so tame he readily perched upon my shoulder and I was able easily to take him in hand and take him home.
Joey settled in very well but we soon discovered that it was necessary for us to keep all windows closed for he turned out to be an expert jewel thief. All jackdaws are known to find sparkly objects fascinating. Joey had an especially keen eye for such things and, given the chance, would seize such prizes and hide them away.
He was also very sociable and soon began to pay visits to our neighbours –uninvited. On one flying visit he decided to inspect the inner reaches of a neighbour’s car, finding a convenient perch on one of the headrests. The owner, utterly unaware of Joey’s presence, jumped in, started the engine, put the car into gear, looked in her mirror, saw Joey and immediately jumped out. Happily someone else was on hand to bring the vehicle to a halt before any damage was done.
Another neighbour, hearing a curious hammering sound emanating from her utility room, discovered Joey pecking vigorously at a defrosting loaf.
As a result of such unwanted visitations Joey had sadly to be incarcerated and consigned to life in an aviary. Een then he maintained his sense of mischief. A neighbour’s dog was in the habit of visiting our garden and every time it did Joey yelled out “Joey” several times. The dog, not aware of any human presence and not knowing where the voice was coming from, always quickly turned tail and fled.
Jackdaws are the smallest members of the crow family, noted for a handsome greying of the plumage at the nape of the neck and for their grey or, in the case of young birds, blue eyes.
That jackdaws clearly have an appetite for pleasurable activity was well demonstrated to me the other day.
The wind had got up and suddenly the sky was filled with a mass of jackdaws. Their loud chacking or jacking echoed across the landscape before suddenly this horde of birds began to fling itself about the sky like so many dancing dervishes. Their gyrations were simply mind-boggling as birds raced down the wind, soaring upwards before with a flick of their wings they were all hurtling towards the ground at breakneck speed. Despite their death-defying antics there is never even the slightest suggestion of any bird losing control. Some of them, as they hurled themselves across the sky, seemed to be playing a gigantic game of tag. Yet perceptibly many were clearly playing in pairs.
On calmer days I have been watching jackdaws flying from building to building in two of our local villages, always in pairs. Often they descended to street level to explore the tossed-away remnants of a sandwich or inspect the litter bins in the hope of finding the remains of fish suppers. They always seem to operate in pairs for jackdaws are among the most constant and faithful of birds, pairing for life, the bond strengthening with each passing year.
Jackdaws live in highly structured societies, with a kind of caste system dictating the place of each bird in the community. When a previously persecuted female pairs up with one of the upper class males she often, in company with her partner, aggressively seeks retribution against birds that previously bullied her.
Because jackdaws are so easy to tame, they can be studied very closely indeed. Hence we probably know more about them than we do about most other avian species.
To my mind, jackdaws are birds which enjoy life and exude an air of comedy. They always bring a smile to my face. Not only do they leave us openmouthed at their amazing aerobatics but they also have, when they come down to ground, a Chaplainesque air while strutting their stuff.
However, one downside of having jackdaws as neighbours is that they rather fancy chimneys as nesting sites. They largely build their nests from sticks and on more than one occasion have been known to fill a chimney so thoroughly with twigs that their nests eventually went from chimney top all the way down to the ground floor.
And where one pair of jackdaws chooses a nesting site others will not be far away Jackdaws can frequently be seen around chimney pots so look up.
Watch out for jackdaws on those windy winter days. You will, I’m sure, be amazed by their aerial dexterity. You may also quite legitimately interpret their jacking as laughter. They are without doubt, fun-loving birds.