Crow Motion
But it is a great disservice to crows to think of them simply as perched dissidents, debating without listening, haranguing with hoarse shouts at the greater world and targeted subjects. It is when they take to the air that their physical gifts are revealed. And if it is hard to appreciate their aesthetics when they are screaming insults while clutching a tree branch, once they are in flight their grace is obvious. This brief post concentrates on the details of the crows' feathered flight surfaces. These images allow better appreciation of just how complex and specialized those surfaces are.
A few comments about photographing crows: Crows are dark, and when they are silhouetted against the sky, camera light meters struggle. There is a great range in the light values measured off a daytime sky and a daytime crow in flight, even a crow in bright sunlight. Perched crows can be less problematic photographically if their backgrounds aren’t bright. Modern cameras allow considerable flexibility in setting light values; it is possible to compensate somewhat for dark subjects that are brightly backlit, as are most crows in flight. But casually photographing crows usually results in a coal-black crow silhouetted against a bright sky. It usually doesn't work well to simply brighten the entire image in the computer, and even brightening just shadows (i.e., the crow) can raise other image-quality issues. Within limits, some post-exposure adjustments with modern processing programs can recover detail in a crow, even when the background is bright. Sometimes the adjustments require pretty heroic measures just to achieve a functional image. (Using a flash could help, but there is concern the bright flash could affect the birds’ eyesight.)
Assuming, however, the exposures and adjustments are optimal, crow aesthetics are striking. Glossy black feathers reveal the aerodynamic features that give them the aerial grace and agility we’ll look at next. (Some frames also show missing feathers on one crow's right wing; these gaps were likely caused by mounting or possibly aerial disputes, maybe with other crows, but more likely with ravens or eagles.) Crow (and eagle) feathers often fall on our lawn.
Liftoff:
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The fine details of crow wings and feathers:
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.