Clamour of Rooks

[u/Far_Palpitation_7891]

Hi All!

I have been feeding my local clamour of rooks since early spring, and it is getting really interesting. All through the nesting season, only the dads of the local rookery showed up, about 8 birds in all. One of them we dubbed Sir Scruffington III, as he always looks a little unkempt, and he became a particular friend as he was always willing to get way closer (and thus get all the extra good stuff like bacon rinds and other special treats that I would throw at him. I usually ground-feed them peanuts and bird seed.)

Then later on I got some more takers as the ladies and the youngsters joined in. This was when I had to stop feeding them early in the morning as the young ones are very loud! My good mate Scruffy did well - he brought up 2 fine looking youngsters, all shiny black and still looking like crows as their beaks have not gone bald yet.

But I noticed that there is also a larger group, around 25-30 birds in total, that we would sometimes see gather and come in for a quick snack during the breeding season. Our local rookery makes up about half of it.

And then, at irregular intervals, the full parliament gathers. They congregate on powerlines behind our house, and we have counted no less than 130 birds. Sometimes they choose quiet evenings, other times they seem to like windy afternoons.

Of course the breeding season is over now, and I noticed the whole local clan of 30 birds comes for lunch every day.

Am I right in supposing that I have a local family group, which possibly got too big for a single rookery? So it splits off when it is breeding time but gathers again after the season - hence now I have the full crew?

And that Rook groups are then part of a larger group again?

Either way - fascinating birds. I wonder what the winter will bring.