Mama rarely left the nest and as the days turned into weeks she sat there through cold and rain, and then during a sudden warm spell, the scorching morning sun. It was maddening to watch. “How can she stand it?” I asked my partner. “She must be going out of her mind."
She kept a wary eye on me just a few feet away in my kitchen, and I, a watchful one on her. Finally, two very tiny chicks appeared. She kept them under wraps for the first few days by basically sitting on them, but they grew fast, and soon were large enough to be observed by more than just me. Mama was gone one morning and with the chicks lying there like a couple of hors d’oeuvres, a large crow landed on the box looking very much like a hungry Darth Vader. I yelled loudly and jumped to the window pounding the glass. The crow instantly retreated for an adjacent parapet where it turned and took a long murderous look at me before flying off, I hoped never to return.
That night, knowing I might not be there next time, I wondered what I could do to protect the birds. There was no realistic way to box them in and mama wouldn’t tolerate it anyway. Then, remembering how the crow stared me down, I thought, get a good sized picture of someone’s head and put it in the window. So, I went to the Times and cut out the largest one I could find and taped it to the
glass. Then I thought, if the crow sees the shape of a body, too, it will definitely not try anything. I hung one of my shirts under the head. That is when I realized I had just reinterpreted the scarecrow for urban use.
That was a week ago. The chicks are large now. They chirp a lot and flap their wings as if ready for flight. I named them Yip and Yap. Momma is still wary of me, and though I have enjoyed her presence, I’ll be glad when I get my flowers planted. And the head photo I used in the window? It was only after I finished assembling the scare crow that I realized where it came from. It was from a new movie that is out called State of Play, starring... Russell Crowe.
