DEAR JOAN: I was awakened this morning by what I thought — in my semi-awake state, and through my earplugs — must be thousands of geese or ducks in the sky, as far as the eye could see.
I tried to sleep through it, but I finally got up to witness whatever spectacle was taking place outside.
It turned out to be 10 to 20 crows in the pine tree outside our window, yelling in unison about something. It must have gone on for 20 to 30 minutes. I went out on the back deck to see if I could scare them off and allow my husband to keep sleeping, but they barely noticed me.
Finally the crows seemed to migrate down the street, and I can still hear them making a racket elsewhere in the neighborhood.
I have never seen this before in my area. What are they up to? Are they trying to scare away a predator?
Julie Machado
Hayward
DEAR JULIE: You know, the more I learn about crows, the more I like them. They may be loud and they can be a nuisance, but they are scary smart.
The crows may have been alerting the flock to the presence of danger and trying to frighten trouble away, but it’s more likely they were waking up, exchanging gossip and planning the day before heading off to work.
Scientists believe crows have a language that they use to communicate basic and some complex thoughts and ideas.
When the flock wakes up in the morning, they break into smaller foraging groups. They may have been “talking” about where each group was heading and what they were hoping to find. Or they could have been talking about the latest episode of “Dancing With the Stars.” Who’s to say?
Once they’re off, they talk back and forth, likely conveying information about food sources and whose car to anoint.
At night, they return to a communal tree to roost, where they are even noisier rehashing the day before settling down to sleep.
In the spring and summer, crows are more likely to forage on their own, but the closer we get to winter, the more the family groups work together to identify food sources. The roost flocks become larger, too. The more birds, the more body heat is generated.
If you’ve ever wondered why a flock of crows is called a “murder,” now you know. They kill your sleep.
DEAR JOAN: How much nectar does each hummingbird get, and how often can they feed from the same flower?
Raymond Edwards
Bay Area
DEAR RAYMOND: Speaking generally, a hummingbird needs to eat one-and-a-half to three times its body weight every day to stay healthy. To get that much, the hummer must visit hundreds of flowers.
Plants are far too diverse to come up with a generality on how much and how often they produce nectar. The production varies by the time of the season and the weather.
Plants make nectar as a way to ensure fertilization. They produce nectar to attract bees, flies, butterflies, hummingbirds and others so that those creatures will either deliberately or accidentally collect some of their pollen and drop it off at other flowers.
This year has been tough for those who rely on that nectar. Because of the drought, flowers weren’t able to produce as much as they usually do.
Contact Joan Morris at jmorris@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow her at Twitter.com/AskJoanMorris and read the Animal Life blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/pets.