Sarasota News Leader
May 10, 2013
Page 86
the Audubon 2012 Christmas Bird Count on
Siesta Key. And, yes, Wildlife Center of Venice
tried to save its life but the head injuries were
too traumatic. Ave atque vale ...
I was about to fly home and almost ventured
out from the protective heavy foliage of the
oak when I heard the Fish Crows raucously
cawing out the alarm, "Hawk! Hawk! Hawk!"
I quickly made myself very small and I froze.
Now, intelligent as all members of the Corvid family are, Fish Crows do not speak English. It is merely an uncanny coincidence that
their warning cry seemingly mimics the word,
"Hawk," whether there is actually a Hawk, an
Eagle or the neighbor's Abyssinian "pussy tat."
At the same time the Crows were cawing, the
flea-infested tree rats (i.e., Eastern Gray Squir-
