Man Saves ‘Russell’ The Crow’s Life, And The Bird Returns With A Crew Of His Mates To Thank Him

A bird-lover, who saved a crow he named “Russell” from certain death after it was stuck in a fence and unable to fly away, now receives friendly visits from a crew of the bird’s mates wishing to thank their new earthbound friend for his big heart.

In the world of birds, crows have got something of an unfair reputation. Cruelly branded as the Darth Vaders of the skies, crows are often shunned by feathered fanciers in favour of the much more twee blue-tit, robin red-breast, or common sparrow.

Which is a crying shame, because crows are darkly majestic and noble birds. They may have been depicted as macabre and creepy by everyone from Edgar Allan Poe to Alfred Hitchcock, and they may be partial to hanging around sights of human misery and suffering, such as battlefields and graveyards, since the dawn of time, but these natural born scavengers have a lot of love to give, if anyone takes the time to really get to know these black-winged beauties.

Take the story that recently appeared in the Inquisitr about eight-year-old Gabi Mann, who had been feeding crows in her neighbourhood since 2011.

Gabi, who shared most of her packed lunch with the crows as she walked to school, would often find a murder waiting to welcome her back when she returned home.

After feeding the crows daily and adding water to their birdbath, Gabbi and her mother were amazed to find the crows had began leaving them little gifts in return such as, “a miniature silver ball, a black button, a blue paper clip, a yellow bead, a faded black piece of foam, a blue Lego piece, a clip that says ‘BEST’ on it, and Gabbi’s personal favourite, a rock that looks like a polished pearl.”

This is apparently not a rare occurrence and professor of wildlife science at the University of Washington explained to BBC News that, “It is not uncommon for crows to extend gifts to those they have bonded with. If you want to form a bond with a crow, be consistent in rewarding them.”

The man who rescued Russell the crow from a fence and nursed it back to health knows all about forming bonds with crows. In fact, he is now being visited by flocks of the bird’s mates.

The bird-lover in question initially found the helpless crow with its head wedged between two planks of wood.

After gently easing the panic-stricken bird out, he took it home, nursed it back to health, and documented the crow’s road to recovery on imgur.

Obviously being a sovereign of the skies and prince of the midnight hour, Russell the crow belonged to the realm of airy abandon and lofty grace and not the earthbound kingdom of us mere humans. Russell yearned to fly high in the friendly sky once again.

The poignant day came when man and bird parted company. It was a fond if bittersweet farewell, as the winged, and wild being since bird flew into the sun, and the other, a more domesticated and less agile creature walked into the shadows.

Yet that was not the end of this inspiring tale.

Russell the crow chose to spread the word about his human friend’s kind ways, and since then Russell’s friend has been visited often by a crew of crows, wishing to say a big thank-you to the human with a heart which who proved far bigger than the stereotypes.

And when it comes to crows there are a whole host of stereotypes, such as the French one about crows being evil priests in another life, the English tradition which saw West country locals carrying onions to protect them from the devilment and unbridled malice of crows, and the old rhyme about a crow on the roof which reels, “A crow on the thatch, soon death lifts the latch.”

OK, so the one about an absolute plague of crows descending upon Hiroshima in the wake of the atomic bomb, has been confirmed by reporters who were on the scene, but as the man who rescued Russell so eloquently put it, “I’d like to think everything from insects to humans deserve to live, so if you see something that needs help you should help.”

(Image Credit: Getty Images/Imgur)