This
is Dilbert Simmonds. Please join me in welcoming him to the family. As you can
probably see he is a jackdaw, but he is a special one.
A
month or so ago, the back garden was full of raucous noise and feathered action
as the local populations of starlings and jackdaws brought their young here to
feed, drink and bathe. The presence of the jackdaws was something new. In
previous years they had rarely visited. I think our street does not favour them
so much as the adjacent ones where the older roof and chimney stacks offer
better nesting and roosting spaces.
Anyway, for a while, on warm and sunny days, jackdaws and their calls dominated
the lawn and adjacent hedgerow. Then, after a couple of weeks, the adults all
pretty much moved off, leaving behind the youngsters, distinguishable by their all-black
head and generally gawky behaviour, and this must have included the odd youngster
that we now call Dilbert.
More
days passed and all the youngsters left too... that is all except one: Dilbert.
He now lives here pretty much 24-7 and it has become clear that he is not quite
like the others of his kind.
Jackdaws
are a famously highly gregarious species living in small groups consisting of
many adult pairs. It seems that Dilbert for some reason has been unable to successfully
engage with the rest of the flock. He also seems to be maturing more slowly,
only recently shedding his fluffy fledgling leggings, and there is something about
his face that is a little different too. His beak looks a little misshapen and,
and this might be the most important thing is terms of his failure to be
allowed into Jackdaw society, he seems to be almost mute. He can make a gentle
sneezing noise and seems to do this when we enter the garden (probably as a
greeting) but he does not make the distinctive squeaky chyak-chyak that the others do.
I don’t know what happened to make him the way
that he is. Maybe it is genetic, maybe he fell out of the nest and landed badly
or had some other accident that left him in some way impaired.
He drinks very frequently from the water bowls
in the garden, and he loves to bathe – most days several times. He also lets me
get very close. That’s not necessarily a good thing in a wild animal but we
will make sure he has ample food and water and perhaps when he is fully mature,
he will be able to integrate into Jackdaw society.
The western jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) is also known as the Eurasian jackdaw and like most other members of the crow family has a distinctive black plumage, but with a silver hood when mature. They also have piercing blue/silver eyes. It is common across Europe and also found in adjacent areas of Asia and Africa.