Suspicious Minds

tossing peanuts
the crows eye
my intentions

I saw a YouTube video of a man feeding and petting a wild crow. That sent me down a rabbit hole – or crow hole, as it were – of videos about befriending crows.

Crows are remarkably intelligent and capable of forming relationships with individual humans. They can remember faces for years, and once trust develops, a crow may land on your arm or shoulder, allow itself to be petted, vocally interact with you, bring small gifts in return for feeding, and even introduce its fledglings and other crows to you. They’ll alert you, and even defend you, from anything they perceive as a threat nearby.

Curious, I bought a bag of unsalted peanuts and have been bouncing them into the street in front of my home, hoping to attract the attention of some nearby crows. So far, no luck, but I’m still working on it.

In the meantime, I’m happy to have this inspired haiku published in the May/June 2026 issue of tsuri-dōrō. If you’d like to read more, click here.