The Crow and the Rainbow

The Crow and the Rainbow (2nd May 2008 5pm)

The marauder was staking its claim today. One crow had seen me through my window watching it eyeing off the carcass of a rainbow lorikeet. Its paranoia knew no bounds and it trod ever-careful with watchful eyes, plotting the movement of my head to see if I posed a threat to its carnivore desires.
I later went to the lorikeet before I left on my own excursion to the cafe to (like the crow) feed my hunger and quench my thirst. But before I did I stopped at the dead lorikeet and took several close-up photos of its bright coloured plumage (photos forthcoming).
At the sight of my arrival, the ever-watchful crow on the lower limb of the platanus flew out of sight and disappeared behind the Murraya hedge. And once there in the garden, something else caught my attention, for I spied under the Illawarra, a younger Illawarra (its sibling perhaps at least I think it was a Illawarra..?) seedling rising from near the limestone border right near the wall and my window.
And upon my return to my desk I once again saw the return of the watchful crow. It knew I was there at my desk, but I bent backwards so it could not see me. And so without sighting my figure through the window it quickly took command of the carcass and attempted to whisk it away in its beak. But, when I stood up and tried to photograph its attempts, with it possibly fearing the sight of my form and watchful stance at the window, it quickly dropped the carcass and flew away. Why it would fear my presence I did not know.
Crows are usually a lot smarter than that, and they will normally take far greater risks than that posed by the sight of me. Maybe it wasn't that hungry. Maybe easier and more tastier morsels were to be found from pilfering the university's bins. It is, after all, the doyen of scavengers and eating from bins is where its real skills come to the fore.
Note: I suspect that my description of the window being 'my window' is inadequate and only half true.
The crow's actions prove that he had an eye into my world as I had an eye into his.
His attention to me was matched by my attention to him.
This window is thus equally his (or hers) and the birds that abound beyond are thus equals to me and my growing craft and awareness of watching, of 'seeing' and of course, being seen.