CommunityNews
Current Fence Guidelines
As a reminder when working on fences, FCCSA’ s Fencing Guidelines for street facing fencing. Any street facing fencing that is replaced will need to follow the current guidelines, which include a rot board, cap rail, and trim. Please submit a Property Improvement Application before beginning any work to ensure that your planned improvement follows the current guidelines. This will help ensure that the improvement is done according to current restrictions, and also prevent you from spending money more than once on an improvement.
** Please be advised that fence pickets must be cedar. Pine pickets are NOT permitted.**
Being Called A Bird-Brain Just Might Be A Compliment
By Cheryl Conley | Lake Creek Nature Preserve
How would you answer the question:“ What is the smartest bird on the planet?” Although measuring avian intelligence can be challenging due to the diverse ways birds solve problems and adapt to their environments, scientists and researchers all agree that the crow is the most intelligent bird in the animal kingdom. Before I get into the reasoning behind that decision, let’ s learn a little about the American crows.
With a range covering nearly all of the lower 48 states, barring the southwestern deserts, the American crow is a familiar sight. They are very adaptable and you’ ll find them in urban, suburban and rural areas. Distinguished by its glossy black feathers that shimmer iridescently, it possesses long legs and a sturdy, straight bill. Adults typically measure between 16 and 21 inches in length, about 40 % of which is tail, and weigh approximately one pound. These intelligent birds are omnivores with a remarkably broad diet, consuming natural foods like worms, insects, seeds, and fruit, but also scavenging trash and carrion, and opportunistically preying on baby birds from nests.
Young American crows don’ t breed until they are at least 2 years old but most don’ t breed until they are at least 4 years old. They are territorial and will defend their nests and foraging areas.
Pet Etiquette Reminder
Let’ s keep our trails and sidewalks clean and safe! Please remember to leash your pets and clean up after them during your walks.
Crows are monogamous and their lifespan is between 7 and 15 years. Interestingly, they hold funerals for their dead. When a crow sees a fellow dead crow, it will send out a loud call to the other crows. The group will then perform aerial maneuvers and vocalizations at the“ funeral”.
Due to their intelligence, crows have demonstrated remarkable memory skills. They can identify and remember individual faces and associate them with positive or negative experiences. They effectively communicate these occasions to others in their murder( a flock of crows), who may then collectively react to the person involved. An experiment at the University of Washington proved this to be true. Wearing masks, researchers captured and banded 75 crows. No harm was done to the crows but the birds did not like being caught. For the next 3 years, the researchers would wear the masks outside to see if the crows would react. They certainly did. The researchers were scolded, mobbed, dive-bombed and pooped on by the crows.
One 8-year-old girl in Seattle learned all about the intelligence of crows when her kindness to them was reciprocated. Gabi Mann would leave food Lake Creek Nature Preserve Article Continued on page 7...
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