Finders Keepers

Crows - The American Crows, Corvus brachyrhynchos. You know the big black bird that caws and carries on.

I recall when I was a yute (a line by Vinny Gambini from the movie My Cousin Vinny) that you couldn’t get close to these birds. The minute you’d try off they’d go. I’m not talking about sneaking up and trying to grab one or put salt on its tail but rather trying to open a window to get a shot at one. The littlest sound would send them off even the opening of a window.

Now a day’s this simply doesn’t hold true from what I’ve seen. For example, the last couple of times that my dad let me cut his lawn (weeds and dirt) there’s been a flurry of crow activity. What surprises me is how bold they are these days and of course I no longer have armament to get a shot at one.

I am cutting the lawn yesterday and notice a crow not more than 15 – 20 feet away picking at something. From my vantage point, perched atop my tractor, I see what the dude is pecking at and spring from the tractor into action and make a b-line right to him. This didn’t scare him off right away and he kept picking. I closed the gap between him and me to less than 6’ before he took off and before he left he made one last grab at what he was picking at and flew off with some of it.

And do you want to know what he was picking at, hmm? Of course you do, this is a riveting story and I have you sitting at the edge of your computer desk with sheer excitement and awe, admit it.

Anyway, I digress. The dude was picking at a folded piece of paper, a receipt, with some singles folded along with it. You know singles, ones, dollar bills, dinero, bread, cabbage, clams, dough, loot, moolah… That S.O.B. grabbed two singles as he took off and I swear he flipped me the bird too. I can’t be certain of the amount but the receipt listed $4.51 as ‘change due’ and two singles were left behind – you do the math.

The good news is that I made $2.00 for cutting my dads lawn yesterday and the bad news is it could have been $4.00. In any event my cup of coffee this morning was free and a BIG thank you goes out to Mr. Crow for without him I would never have spotted the cash and come into such a windfall.

This find has also renewed my desire and compassion to continue mowing my dad’s lawn - I’ve been invigorated with the possibility of finding more cash and riches as I mow !