winter of crows - page 8 (the crows of kansas city) 



kansas city has huge winter roosts of crows. this is not an entirely new phenomenon, but i never noticed the vast numbers that can appear until the mid-nineties. one winter they made mill creek park almost unusable*; the western trail was literally smeared with crow feces, and the stench was unimaginable. in the evening, when roosting began, the clamor was extraordinary, and kept up half the night. they lined the trees along st. luke's hospital as well, and i, forced to walk to the broadway right by them, would hear crow pellets striking the gorund all around me. i was never it, though.

they, and the random crow-carcasses that i saw, made an impression on me, and i drew a number of interpretations of the crows. at one point, they were to be the spies of a future government in a comic i never completed. at another point, they were the bearers of the dead to the afterworld in the mountains of the moon.

their ominous significance did not decline for me. the crow made an appearance in the first issue of sparrow's fall, and regularly appeared thereafter whenever christopher's problems or probable failure were mentioned. he was doomed to death form the beginning, after all, so it was appropriate that the crow should always be there.

as charity says below, crows are drawn to the city for warmth and food in the winter. they eat junk food. lots of it, prowling through dumpsters behind fast food restaurants. maybe that should tell us something.





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*this before st. luke's and american century cooperated in placing crow distress recordings around their properties. the birds have gotten somewhat used to them, but small rookeries now operate in the park at a distance from the sounds--which are awful, like a crow being pulled apart. 

Posted: Tue - June 1, 2004 at 07:45 AM             |

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