Publication date: 13 April 2020
This is my early-day study of crow heads for a possible print project that I'm calling, for the time-being, 'Crownation'.
I like crows - they're intelligent, communal, and wily. Some people have negative feelings towards them - they are, after all, eaters of dead things... and they have a reputation for attacking the vulnerable and weak... but evolution has positioned them to do the job they do - our world would be a messier place without them.
This drawing was made from a series of photos I took on Torquay seafront at the beginning of the Covid (not 'corvid') lockdown. I drew a crowd (of crows) by feeding the birds little bits of cooked chicken. They were prepared to approach within a couple of feet, but they didn't hang around - I had to pre-focus my Leica and take as many pictures as possible... resulting in one of the largest random crow photo collections this side of Exeter.
![](weblive_images/nation1.jpg)
When you get up close, you realise how crows are as unique in looks and personality as humans. Each beak is a different shape - each skull has a different outline - the quality and patina of their feathers - the look in their eyes - all different.
I like trying to work out who is the real 'boss' crow in a goup (or 'murder', to use that over-used word). The boss isn't always the one who dives onto the food first. He (I'm assuming he's male, but I don't know that for sure) is the one with the most scars on his beak, and the scruffiest feathers. He's one of the larger in the crowd - size, strength and a willingness to fight matters - but so, I suspect, does the ability to convey a suggestion of malevolance - of contained aggression.
Sometimes, the boss will be happy to hop around the edge of the group - keeping his distance, as if competing for the food is beneath him - while tapping his beak in a staccato chatter whenever an adolescent comes too close. But maybe I'm being sentimental - maybe I'm just looking at some old fella who's nervous of the young ones - but, either way, I make sure he gets some chicken.
![](weblive_images/nation2.jpg)
When this lockdown is over, I'd like to spend more time down on the steps by the town beach - feeding the birds, building their trust, making a connection. I'm not concerned that feeding them will make them over-trusting of humans - they're too bright for that - you have to earn the trust of a crow - it's not a given thing.
I would like to take better, closer, photos of these creatures - I want to capture the expression in their eyes that hints at the mysterious darkness that swirls within the timeless impossibility of their ancient souls - that's the level of detail I need to make the print I have in my mind.
I think it's going to take quite a lot of cooked chicken.