Equilibrium

At the time of writing, it appears to have worked. No one is more amazed than me. If we need to go back to what we were doing so be it but it is the crows who will suffer.
We have crows visit. We have become quite fond of them. Mum and dad come and every year they bring a baby. We definitely need to be willing to put up with the incessant noise of the begging of the baby. Crows are not alone though. Corella babies can be heard from far away.
This year for the first time ever one baby just would not leave. All others have gone on and made their own way in the world. This one stayed. It seems they decided they knew where a constant source of food was so they did not need to go away. The parents definitely do not like it. They fly at and give the baby a hard time. The baby is intimidated. It flies from here to just over there. The parents do this a couple of times and decides very early to do something else. The baby is then free to roam.
The trouble for us was the parents had brought a new baby to the joint, and suddenly we had four crows looking for a feed. If the new one brought a mate and baby that would be six crows instead of two. We were happy with two and the occasional three but four we did not want. We had visions of opening the flood gates and many crows deciding this was the place to be.
So Merril and I made a decision. In June there would be no food for the crows. If either of us saw the other feeding the crows the month would start again from that point. It was not easy. The parents continued to come and we had nothing against them. But so did the other one. It was him we wanted to get rid of.
The month actually went fairly quickly. I could say it flew by but it was the crows that flew. We feel we can start feeding again if we want to as the intruder is no longer around. It must have decided in June that this place could not support both him and the parents.
Once again we are enthralled by the antics of two crows. They love to visit us at the enclosed area in which we sit. They grab a drink from our watering can. They listen out for food preparation and fly to a nearby perch in anticipation. They fly down to the food no sooner than we put it out. One in particular seems particularly bold. It flies down even when we have only moved a few feet from the food.
I had to laugh. Merril was driving near our home and saw the crows on the side of the road. She called out “oy!” to get their attention. She did not know the neighbour was out. All three looked in her direction.
Anyway equilibrium has again be restored. We are happy. The crows are happy.