Howdy!
What a week, right?
In this episode, Pepper and I discuss the CDC Halloween guidelines (“If screaming will likely occur, greater distancing is advised”), the guy in Cincinnati that built a candy luge for safe candy dispersal, what happens when someone with vitiligo transforms into a werewolf, and the time we stumbled on a crow funeral. You can subscribe to our podcast by searching for “Baffling Cyclops” on your favorite podcast app or you can use Apple Podcast or YouTube.
Right after we saw the crow funeral, I tweeted about it. To add to what we said in the episode, it really was like walking in on a private family moment. Imagine going for a walk in the woods, turning a corner, and finding a couple of hundred people dressed in black and crying over a fallen friend, and then they all turn to look at you. Gulp.
It’s also hard to describe what it’s like to see that many crows take off at once. It was more than smoke because you could still make out each individual crow. It was like a vertical river of crows that was actually one huge crow. I imagine that behavior is designed to scare predators and I could feel that primal fear in my heart.
For more information on crow funerals read anything by the amazing Dr. Kaeli Swift or watch her TED talk. Here is a picture of her dressed in the crow funeral uniform we mention in the podcast.
Our experience with crows has inspired Pepper to do some incredible art.
This one is a particular favorite of mine because it’s based on a photograph by Tef E. Birbs. You can see the original photo here.
Not to mention Pepper’s crow rock with peanut on the back.
Here’s a picture from the day that hundreds of crows were gathered around our house. It was impossible to get them all in one shot because they were so spread out.
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Always remember the peanut.