Therapod moment

[John Bois <jbois@umd5.umd.edu>]

I was lying on the banks of the Potomac.  I threw the end member of a
bagette towards a crow.  Crow picked it up in his beak and flew to the
rail of a fence.  He transferred it to his claw and called.  In flew
baby.  Tried to land on rail but slipped.  Beak and skull smacked against
the rail as it fell.  Baby recovered and perched next to dad.  The
bread was still in his claw.  He pecked off chunks and fed it to baby. Ate
none himself!  I know it was not unusual.  But it was touching.  I felt
very close to that crow--until I realized it would be very happy to peck
my eyes out and feed them to its baby.  And then I wondered about the
saying: eat crow.  And in  that context I heard a news piece about W. Nile
virus; saying that crows take forever to decompose.  So, their meat must
be chewy, what?  Not like chicken at all.