Spark Bird: Kira Jane Buxton's Crow Rescue

BirdNote®
Spark Bird: Kira Jane Buxton’s Crow Rescue
Written by Mark Bramhill

Mark Bramhill: This is BirdNote.

Kira Jane Buxton is the author of Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures, two novels about a foul-mouthed pet crow named S.T., navigating the extinction of humanity, learning to bridge between the worlds of domestic and wild animals. The books are love letters to the city of Seattle and the American Crow. But Kira’s love for crows didn't start until a few years before writing the books.

Kira Jane Buxton: I was walking my dog and there was an injured crow. 

[American Crow calls, ML 159864361] 

Its wing was backward. And in the trees all around were about 60 crows who were just screaming for this family member. And I was very nervous to approach, because I had no experience with crows. And you know, the general consensus about crows is quite negative. They're seen as harbingers of death. Um, also I'm blonde. So I thought this might be a kind of Tippi Hedren moment.

[American Crow calls, ML 159864361] 

But I got a box and approached this poor little injured crow. And it looked at me and I looked at this crow, and I just had this feeling that the crow understood I was there to help and not to harm. And so I ushered this little crow into the box, and all the crows went silent. And this is 60 crows, just silent watching.

Mark Bramhill: Kira took the young crow to a local wildlife rehab center, where, sadly, it didn't survive.

Kira Jane Buxton: But after that, I had a completely different relationship with the local crows. I would go on these walks, and they would follow me.

Mark Bramhill: All these crows helped inspire her light-hearted apocalyptic novels. You can learn more at our website, BirdNote.org. I'm Mark Bramhill.

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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. American Crow ML 159864361 recorded by B. Sullivan.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote   January 2022         
Narrator: Mark Bramhill

ID# sparkbird-14-2022-01-17    sparkbird-14