The Buzzard and The Crow

Until lockdown happened, and I started writing blogs, I really had no idea how much I actually think, and talk, about birds! 🙈 Whilst sitting out in a hide, with a camera and a set of binoculars, would absolutely bore me, I do really enjoy it when I see some birds.

It started in my old house, when I bought my first bird feeder, to hang in the tree near the patio. I loved watching the little birds, hop about the tree as they tried to get some food. Then when we moved to this house, there were plenty more trees to hang feeders from, and I loved seeing all the different breeds of birds that visited the feeders.

However, there is one type of bird that I really despise. I’m sure they do have a purpose, but I really detest them, and would prefer it if they never visited my garden. That bird is the crow! (sorry Ruth R 😜)

I remember as a child, there was a crows nest in the large oak tree behind my dad's garage. My dad wasn’t happy about this and tried his best to destroy it. He got angry on one occasion, as he witnessed them swooping down and snatching tiny little birds that were in the garden.

I didn’t give them much thought until we moved to this house. After putting out my feeders for a while, they began to attract A LOT of crows! They would manage to get the feeders out the trees and onto the ground, sometimes breaking them. They would empty the seeds and nuts out, consuming the lot, leaving the poor little birds nothing. I would bang the window to chase them off or sometimes even shout at them. Some early mornings in the spring/summer time, I have counted around 30 crows sitting in the grass in the early morning sun!

For a while I stopped filling the feeders back up. I didn’t want to lure some helpless little bird into a trap, where it could easily get snatched away by a horrible crow. Nor did I want to waste my money on bird seed, for it all to be completely wasted on crows the following day. But last year during lockdown, we spent so much time outdoors working on the garden, I started adding little feeders around the patio. I put them in places that I thought would be safe for little birds and hoped that our presence in the garden would keep the crows away. So far this has worked.

Sometimes in the warmer weather when we are sitting outside, we often see the heron flying across the field behind our house. Usually there are a few crows chasing after it, swooping down on it trying to attack it or scare it away. Possibly to see if it will drop any fish that it has in its mouth. They always look so vicious when they are doing this.

I think my deep dislike for them was established when a couple of years ago, one pecked me on my hand when I tried to rescue it. We could hear noises from inside our chimney, just above the plate that the pipe from the woodburner goes through. Much to our annoyance we were going to have to take the pipe out and somehow find out what was in there. Sure enough we could see the eyes of a crow shining back at us as we looked up through the gap. Calum managed to rope Caleb, our eldest son, into trying to retrieve the bird. (Phoebe recorded the whole thing on video, it was hilarious!) Eventually he managed to get it down into the fireplace and a stunned bird flew straight across our living room into the window. I ran across to catch it against the window, I didn’t fancy soot being flapped about my house, but as I carried it outdoors it pecked at me! Think it maybe knew that I didn't like them. 😬

The other morning as I looked out my bedroom window, I could see something sitting on top of the bird table that Calum made last year. It was huge, I thought at first maybe it was a cat. But as I sat and watched I realised it was a buzzard! It must have been attracted to the bread that the kids had been putting out. I did take a photo with my phone but it really doesn't do it any justice.

As I sat and watched this beautiful bird, I realised that there was a crow, flying from tree to tree, right above the buzzard. It looked agitated and not best pleased at the buzzards presence, however it didn’t go anywhere near it. After a while the buzzard flew off showing it’s amazing wing span! As soon as it flew off, the crow immediately flew after it, swooping at it in a threatening way. I couldn’t believe how unafraid this crow was, as it appeared to be chasing off the buzzard.

I continued on with my morning, but I couldn't stop thinking about those pesky crows and the brass neck they have!!

As I’ve thought about these crows, their behaviour has reminded me of that of the devil. (ironically, I remember seeing a scary film when I was younger and anytime there was a crow sitting around it meant something bad was going to happen!)

As a christian I not only believe in God and that he is good and loving. But the bible also teaches us about satan, the devil, the fallen angel and that he is wicked, deceitful, and out to destroy.

C.S. Lewis was a christian and he tried to portray this picture in his book ‘The lion, the witch and the wardrobe’. Aslan represents God, and the white witch represented the devil. This picture can also be seen by Tolkien, in ‘Lord of the Rings’, the fight of good vs evil.

I am aware that you might think it strange for me to blog about the devil. But as I’ve thought about those crows this past week, and the way they swoop down and attack others. The way they are so destructive to other animals and to my feeders. The brass neck of them, I have really felt like I needed to write this.

As the crows are only ever out for themselves, so it is with the devil. He is only out to please himself and that is by destroying others. His one ambition is to stop people from following God, and he does this by whatever means necessary. In fact the bible actually gives us a warning against him “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring Lion, looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Oftentimes, when I see poor souls addicted to drugs or alcohol, I think that has been one of the best things the devil has ever come up with, in keeping people bound in darkness and torment. These poor souls can’t even think about anything else, other than their next fix, nevermind anything else in their life. He has them literally bound in the chains of their addiction.

Everybody is different, and how he might attack, deceive or destroy one person, can be completely different to another. For some it can be the obsession of money and the love and greed of things that money can buy. Others it can be a constant need to find acceptance and approval from empty jobs or relationships, when only a relationship with God will satisfy that empty feeling inside.

However the devil tries to get at someone, his goal is always to leave them worse off instead of better, further away from God, instead of closer. Ironically though, sometimes when the devil tries to attack someone, it can often push them towards God instead. When someone is left broken, alone and deceived. When they have wasted years searching for fulfillment in money, relationships and acceptance, they discover that God is the missing piece from their life.

As I watched the buzzard and the crow, I thought to myself, surely the buzzard is the bigger bird and would be able to kill the crow if it wanted to? I googled to see what it said about them, sure enough it did say if the buzzard wanted to, it could actually kill the crow.

This reminded me of exactly what the devil is like when God is at work in someone. Like the crow, agitated, jumping around in the tree at the buzzards presence, the devil is also never far away, watching and waiting for the first opportunity to drag them back down. But as long as they remain walking close with God, he doesn’t dare go near.

Left to our own strength, we are not strong enough to stand up to the devil when he attacks us, deceives us, tempts us into situations that leaves us feeling defeated and unworthy of anyone's love. When he keeps reminding us of all our failures over the years, all the mistakes we have made. But

when we turn to God, seek his love and mercy and ask for forgiveness for all those things that we have done wrong, we can trust in his strength to preserve us through these attacks.