I found a dead crow on our back deck one morning last week.
It likely died from natural causes, meaning West Nile disease, as blue jays and crows are very susceptible and West Nile activity is high in the area now.
We’ll never know for sure, though. I called the local public health department, which declined to collect the bird for testing.
What do we do?
My husband suggested burying the crow’s body in the yard, but we decided against that, to avoid possibly spreading disease to any more animals.
Instead, we would put it in the garbage in the alley. (I know, I don’t love it either.)
But not right away.
First we would wait and see, because we’d learned we should avoid moving the crow if any other crows were around.
Why wait?
Crows mourn, or at least investigate, their dead, and we wanted to give them time to discover and pay respects to their dead friend.
The internet also advised us to wait until nightfall, because crows remember faces and hold grudges.
And if the crows see you moving their dead friend, they will think you killed them. And then they will never leave you alone.
But the crows never came.
So, after a respectful period of time, in the full light of day, my husband put on a hat and sunglasses (a half-hearted disguise) and went to get the reacher/grabber tool from the garage.
We bagged it and disposed of it, feeling pretty uncomfortable the whole time.
What does it all mean?
As an omen, finding a dead crow is open to interpretation.
It’s been a week, and I still haven’t seen any crows around here. I hope they aren’t holding a grudge.
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