{"id":3136,"date":"2009-10-12T14:14:24","date_gmt":"2009-10-12T19:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=3136"},"modified":"2010-01-16T11:37:18","modified_gmt":"2010-01-16T16:37:18","slug":"a-murder-of-crows-lieutenant-island-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=3136","title":{"rendered":"A Murder of Crows — Lieutenant Island Tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"crows<\/a><\/p>\n

A Murder of Crows<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Each September and October, a homicidal gang of crows\u00c2\u00a0loiters in the pitch pine trees of Lieutenant Island on Outer Cape Cod.\u00c2\u00a0 This murder of crows lurks in the branches, cawing ominously as they wait impatiently for tiny diamondback terrapin hatchlings to tunnel to the surface from nests where they have been incubating in safety for the past three months.\u00c2\u00a0 Once movement in the sand is spotted, caws rise to an ear-splitting, felonious volume and the murder of crows swoops down for the kill.\u00c2\u00a0 They gobble hatchlings like crispy potato chips, crowing to each other, “Bet you can’t eat just one!”<\/p>\n

\"crow<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Felonious Crow\u00c2\u00a0Plans Next Assault<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Without protection, baby turtles have no chance.\u00c2\u00a0 Even when enclosed in chicken wire cages to exclude predators, hatchling instincts\u00c2\u00a0tempt them into trouble.\u00c2\u00a0 They are programmed to scramble fast and furious for the closest vegetative cover to hide in the safety of camouflage and concealment of the salt marsh\u00c2\u00a0for the next three years.\u00c2\u00a0 So, hatchlings often scurry to the edge of the cage and poke their heads through the wire.\u00c2\u00a0 Nasty crows most obliging help relieve them of whatever body parts extrude from the cage or\u00c2\u00a0fall within pecking reach of their murderous beaks.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object>\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clich Here to View Video in High Quality<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A Murder of Crows Haunts Turtle Point<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As I approached Turtle Point for nest checks this week, a murder of crows circled the skies spying for tasty snacks.\u00c2\u00a0 Walking along upper Marsh Road, I spotted one stealthy suspect in the middle of the dirt road, swaggering back and forth, and pecking furiously at the ground.\u00c2\u00a0 Caught “in flagrante delicto,” the crow abandoned its prey to\u00c2\u00a0flee an extremely agitated turtle researcher sprinting in its direction with eyes of fire and a scientific caliper poised to fly like a boomerang.<\/p>\n

\"crow<\/a><\/p>\n

Tiny Terrapin Hatchling Attacked by Crow<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The once inch, quarter ounce terrapin hatchling had tucked its body as deeply into its shell as it could.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, its tail protruded and the crow had nearly severed the tail from the body.\u00c2\u00a0 See closeup below.<\/p>\n

\"crow<\/a><\/p>\n

Hatchling Tail Nearly Severed by Attacking Crow<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By and large, I get my revenge by ensuring that most hatchlings avoid this fate and the murder of\u00c2\u00a0crows goes hungry and frustrated.\u00c2\u00a0 But when babies crawl out of unprotected nests, these black-winged gangsters are free to\u00c2\u00a0launch their felonious assaults.\u00c2\u00a0 But be aware, dastardly crow, there’s a turtle researcher in your future and he caws more raucously and he attacks more ferociously than any murder of crows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Murder of Crows Each September and October, a homicidal gang of crows\u00c2\u00a0loiters in the pitch pine trees of Lieutenant Island on Outer Cape Cod.\u00c2\u00a0 This murder of crows lurks in the branches, cawing ominously as they wait impatiently for tiny diamondback terrapin hatchlings to tunnel to the surface from nests where they have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3136"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3911,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions\/3911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}