I remember from my childhood that there was hundreds of the black Rooks in our town. They were nesting in the trees around the park and flying back and forth to the fields to steal the corn grains that was just sown. They were a terrible pests in that matter. But they were there... some kind of balance in nature was kept.
Many years later their population started to shrink for some reason. I am not sure of people around started to sow something else that they did not like, or the seeds were with some poison so the birds and other animals would not eat it... I dont know. I even heard a version that a population of smal furry animals grew and they were eating the eggs.
Either way, it seemed like they were gone forever and seeing a few from time to time was quite a thing.
This spring as I was walking around the park that was usually filled with their noise I spotted them again. Not as many as I was used to see, but a nice amount was flying above the very tall, old trees checking up on the multiple nests.
Yay!
They are back!
I keep thinking of getting a better zoom lens, but it always ends up just thinking :p It would be so handy on that day.
And together with the rooks, on the lower branches, I spotted a few smaller Western jackdaws. They belong to the same family, but are smaller and lighter in colour on the feathers.
Just by looking at those branches you can imagine how big and old the trees are. They are amazing even without the birds on them :)
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Tamron 70-300 lens
All photos, graphics and text are my own.