Crows’ odd vigil
Two years ago I told you about urologist Dr. Scott Ferguson of Harrison being stalked by a murder of crows. The physician had no idea what he’d done to capture the relentless attention of the band of black birds who began following him daily from dawn to dark.
I can report that today, likely at this very moment, three of those intelligent birds are still tailing him everywhere he goes during daylight. And he still doesn’t know why.
“They are waiting for me when I leave the house each morning and are in the tree at the office when I arrive,” he said. “And I have no way of knowing why I remain so popular with them.”
Dr. Ferguson said they even pursue him to the hospital and follow him through the windows at work when he changes rooms. “I’ll look outside and see them still waiting out there.”
He can’t recall exactly when the stalking began except that it’s been going on more than two years.
“I thought they would give it up a long time go, but they are committed to hanging around me wherever I am,” he said with a grin and a shrug. “I’ve really never heard of anything like it.”
So what does all this mystical “crowing” over one man mean?
As I wrote two years ago, crows have long been considered both positive and negative symbols. The arrival of a crow could indicate a huge transformation for someone, according to the Power of Positivity website, raising questions such as: “Are you stopping your personal abundance (whether it be health, personal, or wealth) due to fear and anxiety?”
If so, the crow’s “mysticism and magic” can aid in one’s quest, the site says. “The crow’s medicine is a reminder that you are on the verge of manifesting whatever you have been creating in your mind. Allow those positive thoughts to guide you.”
As to possessing the intelligence to organize and follow the physician’s daily movements, an article on the ThoughtCo. website by science researcher Dr. Anne Marie Helmenstine leaves no doubt that crows are in a class by themselves.
“They are so smart, we might find them a bit creepy,” she writes. “It doesn’t help that a group of crows is called a ‘murder,’ that they are viewed by some as harbingers of death or that the birds are clever enough to steal trinkets and food. A crow’s brain is only about the size of a human thumb, so how smart could they be?”
Helmenstine explains that, though a crow’s brain may appear small by comparison to a human’s, “Relative to its body, a crow’s brain and a primate brain are comparable. “According to Professor John Marzluff at the University of Washington’s Avian Conservation Lab, a crow is essentially a flying monkey. Whether it’s a friendly monkey or more like a fiend from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ depends a lot on what you’ve done to the crow (or any of its friends).”
But Ferguson insists he’s never ruffled a feather on a crow’s head. “There’s something very strange and obviously enduring happening with these three,” he said.
While you and I might not be able to tell one crow from another, Helmenstine says a crow may be smarter than we are since it can identify individual human faces. “Marzluff’s team captured crows, tagged them, and released them. Members of the team wore different masks. Crows would dive-bomb and scold people wearing a mask, but only if the mask had been worn by someone who had messed with them,” Helmenstine writes.
“At this point, I’m just going with the flow,” said Dr. Ferguson. “I’ve come to expect them all day, every day. I suppose they must roost in a tree by the house at night to be ready each morning to head for the clinic.”
If I were the good doctor, after two years of being heckled and jeckled, I might begin to feel somewhat alone without these feathered bodyguards looking down wherever I went.
Dogpatch’s fate
After more than a year, we’re finally learning just what world-class conservationist, developer and entrepreneur Johnny Morris of Springfield is creating at the 400-acre site once known as Dogpatch just south of Harrison along Arkansas Scenic 7.
Based on what’s been revealed about the massive reshaping underway at the Ozarks Mountains site, “Marble Falls Nature Park” is becoming what I’ve suspected all along, a conservation and nature preserve similar to Morris’ nearby Dogwood Canyon just up the highway from his Big Cedar Resort south of Branson.
The site is ideal for the type of environment Morris enjoys perfecting: Lots of forested hills, fresh, clear mountain streams and lakes stocked with trout, magnificent landscaping and an obvious appreciation for all things conservation.
Expect to enjoy trout fishing, fly-fishing lessons, a grist mill, restaurant, animal displays, horseback riding and items of local historical significance among the attractions.
Meanwhile, Bass Pro executives continue to work with local officials to repair and restore the long-dysfunctional waste and drinking water system at Marble Falls. They also are assisting our state in trying to resolve chronic traffic issues along the winding and hilly highway.