Toby Jackson and London out for a walk in Valleyview — trailed, no doubt, by their black-feathered friends. Andrea Klassen photo/KTW
The skies are still when Toby Jackson leaves his home for his usual Tuesday morning walk with his dog, London.
But, by the time the longtime Valleyview resident has gone two blocks, it’s clear he is being followed.
Behind Jackson, a handful of crows swoop lazily between sets of power lines, sometimes circling as he stops to greet a neighbourhood cat or point out a squirrel.
Jack’s bird escort began as an experiment several years back.
Having read articles about the intelligence of birds, and crows in particular, Jackson decided to see if the birds in his neighbourhood could be trained to recognize him.
On a typical Tuesday, Jackson would pause at a few points along the route to dole out peanuts or a few of London’s dog treats to his feathery companions.
The experiment was a success — Jackson’s popularity with the birds makes that clear — but it’s come at a cost.
He is now facing $300 in fines under the city’s animal-control bylaw.
He will have his day in court on Jan. 29.
Bylaw services contends Jackson’s activities have attracted the crows to private property, creating a nuisance, an allegation he disputes.
“I’m not attracting birds to a property, I’m attracting birds to me,” he says.
Jackson says he doesn’t want to stop feeding the birds and, indeed, didn’t stop after his first $100 ticket in November or after receiving two more tickets that followed.
“To me, it’s almost like I’ve been talking to one of my neighbours and someone comes along and says, ‘You can’t talk to them any more,’” he says.
A MURDER OF CROWS — AND MORE
The PBS program Nature has produced an acclaimed 60-minute documentary, A Murder of Crows, which details amazing facts about the birds. Here are some: • Crows live all over the world, except in Antarctica. • Crows are predators and scavengers, which means they will eat practically anything. Their diet consists of various road-kill, insects, frogs, snakes, mice, corn, human fast food and eggs and nestlings of other birds. An adult crow needs about 11 ounces of food daily. • A group of crows is called a “murder.” There are several different explanations for the origin of this term, mostly based on old folktales and superstitions. For instance, there is a folktale that crows will gather and decide the capital fate of another crow. Many view the appearance of crows as an omen of death because ravens and crows are scavengers and are generally associated with dead bodies, battlefields and cemeteries, and they are thought to circle in large numbers above sites where animals or people are expected to soon die. But, the term “murder of crows” mostly reflects a time when groupings of many animals had colourful and poetic names. Other fun examples of group names include an ostentation of peacocks, a parliament of owls, a knot of `frogs and a skulk of foxes. • Crows use at least 250 different calls. The distress call brings other crows to their aid as crows will defend unrelated crows. • Crows mate for life.“Well, how’s the neighbour going to feel?”
While Jackson admits a couple of neighbours “aren’t keen” on his activities, he contends the person who has complained to the city isn’t affected by the birds because Jackson no longer distributes peanuts on the early part of his route.
The remaining homes, he adds, are only visited by birds for a minute or less on his walk.
As to whether his activities might be attracting birds to the neighbourhood, Jackson is skeptical.
“They live in the neighbourhood,” he says.
“It’s funny to say I’ve attracted them here.”
City of Kamloops bylaw-services supervisor John Ramsay, says while feeding the birds isn’t necessarily an issue, the routine nature of Jackson’s feedings does tip into nuisance territory for the city — even if it’s only one person complaining.
“It’s the one neighbour that complains, it doesn’t mean it’s just the one neighbour that’s upset with it,” Ramsey says, noting birds routinely flying over a home because of an individual’s actions can count as a nuisance if the birds are leaving droppings on property or individuals below.
Jackson says he intends to fight his fines in bylaw court at the end of the month.
Ramsay, meanwhile, suggests if Jackson wants to continue distributing peanuts, he should choose a more secluded spot — away from private homes.
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