Lurking in the dark

Corvus monedula lurking in a dark corner, to see if we leave something for him/her to eat after we had our coffee !!

Handheld shot with a manual focus 300mm TAIR 3S at F5,6 mounted on an Olympus E420 camera. (2,1 KG combination !)

Something about the Corvus monedula:

The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula), sometimes known as the Eurasian Jackdaw, European Jackdaw, Western Jackdaw, or formerly simply the daw, is a dark-plumaged passerine bird in the crow family. It is found across Europe, western Asia and North Africa, and four subspecies are currently recognised. At 34–39 cm in length, it one of the smallest species in the genus of crows and ravens. It is a black-plumaged bird with grey nape and distinctive white irises. It is an omnivorous and opportunistic feeder, and eats a wide variety of plant material and invertebrates, as well as food waste from urban areas.

Social.

Jackdaws have been observed sharing food and objects. The active giving of food is rare in primates, and in birds is found mainly in the context of parental care and courtship. Jackdaws show much higher levels of active giving than documented for chimpanzees. The function of this behaviour is not fully understood, although it has been found to be compatible with hypotheses of mutualism, reciprocity and harassment avoidance.

Cultural depictions and folklore

Ancient Greek authors tell how a jackdaw, being a social creature, may be caught with a dish of oil which it falls into while looking at its own reflection.[39] The Roman poet Ovid also saw them as a harbinger of rain (Amores 2,6, 34).[40] In Greek legend, a princess Arne was bribed with gold by King Minos of Crete, and was punished for her avarice by being transformed into an equally avaricious jackdaw, who still seeks shiny things.[41] In Aesop's Fables, the jackdaw embodies stupidity in one tale, by starving while waiting for figs on a fig tree to ripen, and vanity in another - the daw sought to become king of the birds with borrowed feathers, but was shamed when they fell off.[40] Pliny notes how the Thessalians, Illyrians and Lemnians cherished jackdaws for destroying grasshoppers' eggs. The Veneti are fabled to have bribed the jackdaws to spare their crops.[39]

In some cultures, a jackdaw on the roof is said to predict a new arrival; alternatively, a jackdaw settling on the roof of a house or flying down a chimney is an omen of death and coming across one is considered a bad omen.[42] In the 11th century William of Malmesbury records the story of a woman who upon hearing a jackdaw chattering "more loudly than usual", grew pale and became fearful of suffering a "dreadful calamity", and that "while yet speaking, the messenger of her misfortunes arrived."[43] Still another ancient Greek and Roman adage runs "The swans will sing when the jackdaws are silent" meaning that educated or wise people will speak after foolish prattlers finally run out of talk.[44]

The Ingoldsby Legends (1837) contains a poem named The Jackdaw of Rheims, which is about a jackdaw who steals a cardinal's ring and is made a saint.[45] A jackdaw standing on the vanes of a cathedral tower is meant to foretell rain. Czech superstition formerly held that if jackdaws are seen quarrelling, war will follow, and that jackdaws will not build nests at Sázava having been banished by Saint Procopius.[46]

In Milan Kundera's The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979), Kundera notes that Franz Kafka's father Hermann had a sign in front of his shop with a jackdaw painted next to his name, since kavka means jackdaw in Czech.

Courtesy Wikipedia.

Hope you like it , greetz lenZ