Monday, January 19, 2009



I was recently asked by Tom if crows really do like shiny things. Yes they do... as do many of their cousins and family (crows, magpies, ravens, jays etc.) In a crows nest you will find pieces of shiny glass, marbles, and as Tom Waits sings, many shiny things. Also things that are blue. I had a friend who left her dining room slider open in the hot summer, and a scrub jay came in (I saw him do it) to raid the fake decorative "nest" on her table filled with pretty small rounds of blue egg shaped glass. Later that year, when trimming her back yard tree, she came across the pretty glass eggs in the nest. I love sparklies too.


Click to listen to Tom Waits' version

(Tom Waits/ Kathleen Brennan-Waits)

The things a crow puts in his nest
They are always things he finds that shine best
Somehow they'll find a shiny dime, a silver twine
From a Valentine
The crows all bring them shiny things

Leave me alone you big ol' Moon
The light you cast is just a liar
You're like the crows, 'cos if it glows
You're dressed to go, you guessed I know
You'll always cling to shiny things

We'll, I'm not dancing here tonight
But things are bound to turn around
Though the only I want that shines is to be king
Here in your eyes
To be your only shiny thing


or watch below as the tune is picked prettily

13 comments:

Tom & Icy said...

That was nice. As the last video played, I imagined a cartoon version of a crow pecking with its beak and strumming the strings with its claws on the Yuke, or whatever the instrument was. I wish the 3D models would go on sale, they have 7 different species. You can pose them to put them in pictures or make them move in a video: maybe even play the accordion!

McRaven said...

I have every CD Tom has ever made. I am his biggest fan. Thanks for the video! Ravens are my favorite bird...

G-Man said...

Tom Waits had one of my favorite quotes EVER!
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me..Than a frontal lobotomy"!

Ariel the Thief said...

Thank you for sharing the Tom Wait song, Terry. That man can do to you what whisky does but even better AND your breath remains fresh. :)

Hobbes said...

I like Tom Waits too.
Wonder how long the jay brooded on the "special children."

Dr.John said...

I like crows. They are very smart. In the city they drop nuts on the road so cars will run over them and open them up. Then they fly down and help themselves.
Robins never do that.

laughingwolf said...

crows, and their ilk, are smart, but i prefer my iggles and horks... esp henery chicken hawk ;) lol

yellowdoggranny said...

ahh, tom waits...dun good.

SOe said...

I LOVE blue!

Jamie Dawn said...

Hey, I saw that vending machine for crows video (a longer version of the whole experiment) on TED videos. It is so neat! Crows really are intelligent!
I've watched a lot of TED videos with my kids over the past months since we found them.
Someday, crows may rule the world!

Minka said...

i love sparkly things too...silver and pearls would make my nest of glimmer!

Anonymous said...

i read someowhere of an ornithologist who was harassed for peanuts all the time, because the crows recognized him as a guy who'd fed them peanuts...they didn't bother anyone else...just him.

i love it. crows are sooo cool.

Michelle said...

I saw a fascinating book advertised on facebook.

"Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds"
by Bernd Heinrich