Local Bird Population Have a New Addiction
By Michael Gold
A gang of crows as tightly organized as a motorcycle crew flies onto the Pleasantville High School track every morning before school, their feathers blacker than the blackest coal, crowding the blue sky and looking like an invading army of winged monkeys from “The Wizard of Oz.”
It’s time for breakfast.
There’s a lot to eat.
Students from the middle and high schools seem to have left lying around on the running track and lacrosse and soccer fields empty, open bags of Doritos Cool Ranch chips, Lay’s Potato Chips, Keebler Thin Stripes Minis, Chips Ahoy, Nilla Wafers, Kool-Aid Jammers pouches, Go-GURT strips, Air Heads candy, plastic food wrap, plastic bags, plastic spoons, forks and yogurt cups, pint milk containers, soda cans, granola bars, lollipop sticks, used face masks, pencils in various states of decay, and on one occasion, a paper clip. I have also seen a few remnants of orange peels, apples and tomatoes.
The kids tend to deposit plastic water bottles on the ground, many of them not even consumed. I collected 14 water bottles on a mid-December morning. All the plastic from the bottles is equivalent to 56 ounces of oil (four ounces per bottle).
All the debris signifies the triumph of the men and women who have worked so many long hours to market these brand names. They have broken through all that advertising clutter and made a deep impression on youngsters’ minds. Their products are good enough to leave as litter on the ground, where the crows and local squirrels can get at them.
The crows, whose black eyes gleam against the light of the sun, walk slowly and carefully, with their heads down on the synthetic grass and rubber surface track, like the people you see at the beach with their metal detectors, looking for gold and other valuables left behind by tourists.
The birds peck at bits of chips, cookies and candy left in random trails on the ground. I have also seen one or two jump on top of the garbage cans set out in the area and stick their heads inside. On occasion, they pull out cardboard lunch trays and other garbage and toss the stuff on the ground with their beaks, so the rest of their little crowd can eat the leftovers of some kid’s lunch.
I once saw a crow dig its beak into a chocolate milk container on the track. I saw another lick a piece of hard candy. They’ve become addicted to sugar and salt, like us humans.
The crows scatter when a human approaches, taking refuge on the bleachers. Some sit on the top bar of the back row. Others clatter against the metal surface of the stands with their claws as they walk. Many of them fly to the roof of the middle school and wait for the intruder to pass them by. They squawk at each other like cranky grandfathers.
Sometimes a seagull will fly in, desperate for a bite to eat. But he always looks out of place among the sea of black birds, and he usually leaves quickly.
The squirrels don’t like to miss out either. They dive into the garbage cans, too. I recently saw a grey squirrel take command of a giant chunk of blueberry muffin on the track. He only left his prize with the approach of a walker doing laps. After his brief escape, he hopped back to the meal and chipped away at the mound with hyper-nervous speed.
I’ve gotten friendly with the middle school maintenance man, who arrives before school to pick up the litter with a mechanical claw. We say hello to each other. He brings me plastic bottles sometimes, so I can recycle them properly.
Recently, I saw him picking up small pieces of junk on the track and putting them in his bucket. I asked him if it was food. I was briefly worried he would be depriving the crows and squirrels of their meal.
No, he said, it’s glass. I took a closer look and saw the fragments on the ground shining in the low morning sun. The maintenance man was worried a kid might cut his foot on the shards of glass. It was the middle of December, and this seemed like a remote possibility. Who would walk barefoot on the freezing running track this time of year? But, the maintenance man, looking out for the kids as carefully as any parent would, wanted to make sure it never happened.
As the students walk onto the grounds to start the school day, the crows know it’s time to leave. They fly up into the nearby trees, high above the school buildings and sit on the bare, cold branches, waiting for their next chance to eat.
Pleasantville resident Michael Gold has had op-ed articles published in the New York Daily News, the Albany Times Union, The Virginian-Pilot and other newspapers.
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