The gaze

What are they considering when they look at me? Certainly, there is an issue of safety or threat being considered. But do they see me as familiar? As an individual? And even if they do see me as an individual (and Clare, when she's there, as a different being), does that matter? Does it make a difference to them?

This dunnock perches on the fence next to the green box every morning. He looks at me, I think, and at everything else very carefully for a few minutes before hopping onto the box. Once on the box, it takes him a long time to walk from the far end to the food. He spends a lot of time looking. And he seems especially concerned about the ground below him.

This next shot shows him shocked by the arrival of a squirrel. But the squirrel saw me and left so the dunnock resumed his slow progress to the food.

If I move, the dunnock scurries (see the short legs? They really do scurry rather than run) across the box to the back or flies away, depending on how much I have scared him. All the time, he is looking around.

As for the squirrels, they either freeze or flee. they might freeze while we gaze at each other and then flee if I move or indeed turn away.

Robins tolerate more eye contact - and sometimes, as with Bobbit, Tengu, and Tane, seem to be interested in this ocular interaction.

These are pictures of Garden Robin, Chestnut (I think), who has recently allowed a little more proximity.

This is one of the other dunnocks. She often eats from the ground and looks very wary!

Finally, the crows.

I am sure they recognise that it is The-Peanut-Lady when they watch me in the garden. This is reinforced by a strange thing that happened on a run. Now, when the crows notice me, they will often caw, looking at me, as though it is either a greeting or a demand. I respond with the food. Other timers, they fly in front of me to an obvious perch and look at me. I respond with food.

I went to the park and this happened with three of the pairs, but when I left the park, a crow flew by and perched on a house opposite - down another road (I was going for a run). I thought that it might be one of the park crows and responded by looking back at the crow and leaving some food. i didn't see if the crow flew down for it, so this may have just been a crow perching on an aerial who happened to look at me.

I went on, across the road, down another road and onto the common. Maybe a mile from home - closer as the crow flies - half a mile maybe. anyway, a crow flew to a tree above me and cawed, looking at me. I got of the road and put it on the grass and went on - at once, just like in the park, a pair flew down to eat it.

So, were these "park" crows crossing a smll part of the town to follow me? Or were these crows who had heard that this particular human is The-Peanut-Lady, caw and she'll feed you? Or was it all just a big coincidence - a crow happened to caw and was happy to see a human drop something which the crow flew down to inspect? That seems unlikely as in my experience crows are wary of new things and will consider them carefully, like that first dunnock, for some time before approaching. So I am left with either persistently tracking corvids or evidence of a corvid grapevine.