On 3/3/07 03:57, in article , "Will
Wilkinson" wrote:
snip
We have a pair that nests in one of our chimney pots each year - my
favourite Corvid by far. They're such handsome birds and most
entertaining to watch. The only problem was two years ago when one of
the recently fledged young chose the wrong pot to return to and, after
an hour's clattering, ended up in the living room! It was successfully
caught and released, none the worse for its experience - did a good job
of sweeping the chimney as well :-)

I think the rooks are as interesting and love the way the ones in our
rookery jostle and swear and shout at each other to get out of the way in
the breeding season. They fly right up from the bottom of our garden to the
top of a hill behind us where there's a copse. From there, they pick up one
twig and fly back - twig carrying female always accompanied by empty beaked
male, apparently - to their rookery. Quite often, they drop the twig onto
the lawn but for some reason, instead of popping down a few feet to pick it
up, they do the whole lumbering back to the copse and start again. I'm
wondering how they're all going to manage this year because a macrocarpa in
the church yard, which was part of the rookery, has blown down.
The jackdaws have done that down the chimney thing in the past and on one
occasion with truly disastrous results. It fell down the dining room
chimney and in blundering at the windows, trying to escape, smashed 5 out of
10 very old and delicate Venetian wine goblets I had on a table in the
window. Some were repaired by a clever shop in London and the rest had to
be chucked - broke my heart!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)