There are several families of crows scattered around the area, their nests perched high up on the taller trees. The baby crows get big fast, until they are just as large or larger than the mother. They sit up on those branches with their mouths open, waiting to be fed.
Now the interesting part is when the mother gets there. She starts cawing louder and louder and faster until it becomes a wretched garbling and then she urps up in the baby's mouth. You can hear this ghastly racket all the way up the street.
What I can't help but wonder is what sort of weird, hellish experience the baby goes through when the poor bastard experiences this for the first time: his mother screaming at him and then garbling and warbling and yacking at his face.
I suppose birds think about it differently. But me? I think it's a funny practice. I get to cracking up every time I hear one of those crows hacking. I don't see why you have to yell and make a big racket when you're regurgitating lunch. I'm sure they'd gladly explain if they could though.
Afternote: The screeching happened to be coming from the baby. In the context of the situation, this makes more sense. He was screeching for food. But what silly images a misunderstanding can generate!
