shanmonster | Crows and Squirrels

I watch them when I walk to work. I find them quite entertaining. Mostly, the crows are shy and keep their distance. But sometimes they stare at me sideways with their snooty patrician beaks and hop a little. The other day, one actually ran instead of hopped. He looked like a raptor from Jurassic Park, only not at all intimidating. It helped that he ran away. It also helped that he was less than a foot tall, and would have burst had I been so cruel as to kick him.

But I'd never do that. I like critters.

Squirrels, as everyone knows, are cheeky little buggers full of sass. They're cute and fluffy, and do all sorts of ballsy things. But I'd never seen one do what this one did the other day.

He charged a murder of crows.

At first, I thought it was a one-off. He charged the crows, they hopped aside gracefully, and went back to their crowlike business.

But then he charged them again. And again. And again!

I don't know what he had in mind, but he kept doing it over and over again until a car drove by and reset his brain. He stood in stunned silence, one paw up by his face, and went into screensaver mode. The crows got bored and flew away.