American Crow on Dead Tree

I heard it before I saw it. A flat, carrying call — and then, once I looked up, there it was: an American Crow perched near the top of a dead tree at the intersection of Salisbury Road and Castleton Road. Just sitting, scanning, owning the view. It was Friday. I’d woken up late and started my walk late, so I stuck to a smaller loop than usual. That loop took me past this particular tree — bare, no leaves, no canopy. For a crow, that’s not a limitation. That’s the point. Full sightlines, nothing in the way. A dead tree is a good lookout post if you’re a bird trying to see everything at once. By the time I’d walked down to the bottom of Jackson Avenue, it had gone. I glanced away for a moment and the branch was empty. But within a few minutes, another American Crow appeared in the same spot. Same branch, same posture. Whether it was a mate or just another bird that had independently worked out this was the best vantage point in the area, I couldn’t say. But it means this tree isn’t random. It’s a known resource on the crow mental map. We seem to have more dead trees this year. I’m not sure why. But apparently the crows have already figured out which ones are worth using.