Want a Walnetto?*

Los Banos has an abundance of crows. This became evident upon awakening the first morning in our new house eleven years ago. As if watching a TV screen, I observed flocks of crows flying by, framed by the tall, bare bedroom window.

Every morning crows fly en masse from the north of town to the south (our area), then reverse the process at sunset. Our street is two streets from the edge of town. At the edge, there are dairies, remnants of walnut orchards, and fields of cotton, silage corn**, and alfalfa. The crows head toward the crops and trees.

Larry and I sometimes found broken walnut shells in our yard and wondered how they got there. We speculated neighborhood kids were tossing them over the fence. I found my answer one day when I witnessed the cleverness of a crow.

This time of year, crows turn into walnut bombers. A crow will fly high with a walnut in its beak, drop the walnut, and then swoop down to the ground, hoping the leathery walnut hull has split open. A few days ago, I saw a crow drop a walnut by our car as we drove by and the walnut bounced like a basketball. The crow caught it in midbounce*** and flew off.

As I thought about this topic last night, I thought it’d be great to get a photo of a crow with a walnut in its beak, but what would be the chances of that happening? Stepping out the door this morning to head to the mailbox, I saw a crow in the middle of the street with a walnut! By the time I dashed back into the house to get my camera and returned, the crow had taken off with its prize. I took a photo in mid-flight. If you look closely (photo is zoomed in 200%), you can see a round object in its beak. It’s a walnut, I promise.

*A phrase from the late 60’s TV show, “Laugh-In.” You had to be there.

**Silage corn is grown for cow food and sweet corn is grown for people food. I was so disappointed to learn all those tall, green rows of corn would not produce fresh-from-the-field corn for our dinner table.

***Spell check doesn’t think “midbounce” is a word. Neither do any of the online dictionaries. But I think it is. It’s my blog, my rules.