Heat wave casualty: West Seattle’s most famous crow

| West Seattle news | Wildlife

Just yesterday, we mentioned that unusually colored crow – “leucistic” is the term – in our story about Gatewood author Lyanda Lynn Haupt‘s new book (from which she is reading at Elliott Bay Books, 7:30 tonight). This morning, on our way out to cover a story, we saw one of our neighbors here in the Gatewood/Upper Fauntleroy area where “Leucy” has hung out for years – and she told us she found “Leucy,” aka the “brown crow,” dead in Wednesday’s historic heat. No sign of blood or injury – just dead. Neighbor Jane thinks “Leucy” was female, and had noticed her “showing off her babies” this past season. No way to tell how old “Leucy” was; Lyanda told us crows can live longer than a decade in optimum conditions.

zero-to-life in West Seattle July 31, 2009 (11:45 am)

Oh, that makes me sad! I’ll miss you Blondie!

Wednesday July 31, 2009 (11:47 am)

Oh no! I’m so sad :( I’m always looking for this famous brown crow when I go up near Calif/Thistle but haven’t seen it in a long time. Poor crow! At least we know what happened to it. Thanks for letting us all know!

biankat July 31, 2009 (11:49 am)

Poor baby :(

WSB July 31, 2009 (11:50 am)

I just saw him/her earlier this week – it was a little further up California – for the past year, it had spent more time further east, 42nd/Thistle.

nbp July 31, 2009 (11:54 am)

NOOOOOO! Poor Stanley (our name for him) This sucks. We have been watching him for several years. I am sure going to miss that little guy.

TDe July 31, 2009 (11:56 am)

I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve seen her several times on Thistle and thought she was cool. Maybe one of her offspring will produce a similar colored chick one of these days.

Jersey Jill July 31, 2009 (12:14 pm)

Oh that is horrible poor little thing, I have several water features in my yard and the crows and literally imersing themselves in the large pond trying to cool off. When you see a crow walking around with it’s mouth open it is trying to cool itself off by letting out body heat. The bill absorbs most of the heat to protect their internal organs. As soon as I turn our fountain on in the morning the crows start calling each other swarms come into bath. Very fun to watch.

flowerpetal July 31, 2009 (12:18 pm)

We will remember Leucy for a long time. We looked forward to seeing her when passing through her neighborhood.
I wonder if her death has been reported to King County’s West Nile Program:
http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/ehs/westnile/deadbird.aspx

Left Turner July 31, 2009 (1:11 pm)

While I understand that the death of animals (particularly when it is a unique animal) is a touchy subject, I must say that I am not saddened at all. I know for a fact (having watched it happened) that crows destroyed AT LEAST 2 Robin nests in my yard this spring (and left the egg remnants splattered all over my car). Yes, they have their place as scavengers, but not in my yard.

wseye July 31, 2009 (1:20 pm)

We also had a crow death in our garden during the heat wave. A young crow stayed in the birdbath all day long and was still there by nightfall (we were careful not to disturb). In the morning it was lying dead in the bath, with its head hanging over the side. Other crows would hover overhead and call out, but eventually they recognized that their family member was dead. I had read that the first sign of West Nile Virus was going to be dead crows and jays, I hope that is not the case and it was just the heat.

a parent July 31, 2009 (2:40 pm)

I am very sad. “Albino crow” as we called her has been one of our favorite local attractions; we’ve been watching and photographing her for years. Sniff…sniff….

Carter July 31, 2009 (2:42 pm)

Shock! We’ll miss seeing him/her daily. We’ve been following this crow for a few years since it was a loner in its domain at the intersection of California and Thistle. For some reason it coupled up and relocated to the intersection of 42nd, Sullivan, and Thistle. It was always a topic of conversation after leaving the house. Recently noticed a 3rd join the couple and wondered what gives. Might it have been an offspring?

WSB July 31, 2009 (2:52 pm)

That’s what Jane said. She was quick to tell me “but the mate and the baby are OK” and I hadn’t even noticed they’d had a third – gotta take my blinkers off! – TR

Ivy E July 31, 2009 (3:02 pm)

poor leucy, i didn’t even get to see you. rest well and fly forever!

lonelycrow July 31, 2009 (3:15 pm)

Bye bye my good friend.

herongrrrl July 31, 2009 (3:45 pm)

RIP, Leucy. :(

AJ July 31, 2009 (3:55 pm)

This makes me really sad. I loved that crow. Rest in peace.

Lisa July 31, 2009 (3:59 pm)

Oh…that makes me so sad. We’ve been following Sylvester (our name for her) for the past few years. The family of crows had a nest across the street from our house. We even heard her on our rooftop gathering twigs and such for her nest. I even created a painting a year ago of the crow family:

http://lisafossen.com/illustration_personal.php

Seems like she had an impact on a lot of people in the neighborhood.

Sylvester…we will miss you.

d July 31, 2009 (3:59 pm)

If her end had to come so soon after reaching fame in WS, I’m glad she at least went out on such an historic blaze of a day. Atypical day, atypical crow.

omg July 31, 2009 (4:36 pm)

I am absolutely devastated. I loved this crow. We have lived here 9 years and (we named her Coco) and she was a fixture at California and Thistle. Such a special bird who always made my day when I saw her. I am so sad. I wish she would have found my bird bath in my back yard. oh so sad…

Conrad July 31, 2009 (4:47 pm)

I’m sad. We really enjoyed getting to see her when we drove through that area. We had no idea she had a name (or that it was a she). We called her “Caramel Crow”.

Lindsey July 31, 2009 (5:49 pm)

There was a very interesting piece on NPR recently, “The Crow Paradox.” It featured a study by the University of Washington saying that it’s advantageous for crows to distinguish between “good humans” who might feed or tolerate them, and “bad humans” who would shoot or chase them away. So they’ve developed the ability to remember human faces. If you loved the crow, it’s likely that she remembered you too. :)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106826971

Koni July 31, 2009 (6:05 pm)

What a sad day! I saw Leucy (I called her Miss Vanilla) often on my way to get morning coffee. She hung out on Thistle and California, sometimes I saw her with 3 other black crows. I always felt lucky to see her…so unusual to have a distinctive wild animal that you could identify as an individual over and over. We will miss you Leucy!!!

Dan July 31, 2009 (6:57 pm)

I saw her nearly every day driving into work around 42nd and Thistle, and on California & Thistle on the way home in the evening. Funny how a crow sorta started and ended my day, and it always brought a little bit of cheer.

Michelle Skweerl July 31, 2009 (11:34 pm)

I wondered why “Spirit Crow” wasn’t around for a treat today with her offspring. She will be missed.

grr August 1, 2009 (12:03 am)

:(((( sooo sad. We’ll miss her (we called her Cheryl). She and her family were regulars in our yard….tho..I’ve often wondered why we never saw them in our water feature…plenty of room..

rip sweet bird :(

grr August 1, 2009 (12:10 am)

and now that I think about it. We didn’t see much of her and the new babies for the past few days. they’re ALWAYS on the wire by our place when I’m heading to work..yelling for some bfst (a bit of really nice canned dog food!!).
–
We spent 30 minutes one morning just sitting out front watching her, the mate, and the two young ones all hanging out by a small plate…she always ate first..then fed the young ones. Then the larger black one would finish it all off.
–
Hopefully the rest of the family will be back tomorrow. We’ll really miss her.

grr August 1, 2009 (12:15 am)

does anyone else have an other hi-res photos of her? it would be nice to put up a little web page :)

J Winter August 1, 2009 (6:53 am)

I would love a photo of her too. It is nice to know just how many of us loved that little crow.

rnl August 1, 2009 (7:11 am)

rip baby

Rasmus August 1, 2009 (5:46 pm)

I’m sad to hear about Leucy’s passing. She was a unique and beautiful animal.

On the other hand, I enjoy reading the little personal notes from all of you who lived “on her turf” and as such “knew the family”. I only got to see them a couple of times.

Sgirl August 1, 2009 (11:41 pm)

We also have a favorite crow mama near the Alaska Junction. She must have been injured because she has a bum wing and foot – we’ve been watching her for a year and a half and she seems to be doing OK. I try not to feed her because she and her 3 little ones need to learn to find food on their own to thrive. I do leave water out on the hot hot days.

jane August 2, 2009 (11:22 am)

I thought her name was Brownie and my husband and I loved her. She was very polite and unafraid, unlike her husband and two of her offspring. This was the first year that she showed her babies to us and we enjoyed watching her feed and train them to fetch food. The two older babies have flown the coop and one small crow was quite a hand full and was always begging Brownie to give it more food. Now that mom has passed on, the baby has grown up and politely comes around by itself for a snack and then dad joins the baby. Crows seem to have the ability to carry on better than people after a death in the family.

We found Brownie outside on the sidewalk by our tree. She looked like she just past away from the heat on that 103 degree day. The good news is that “Crow Lady”, Lyanda Lynn Haupt came over to get frozen Brownie today and examine her and then turn her over to the U of W for more research.

I am so happy to know that many neighbors saw her as a special outdoor pet and cared for this special crow.

WSB August 2, 2009 (11:33 am)

Thanks for the update, neighbor. I will probably republish this separately later so more people hear the p.s. to the story – Tracy

grr August 2, 2009 (2:11 pm)

indeed..thanks, Jane! Thanks for being kind and wise enough to preserve her body for the U.W. people. I hope we hear something back.
–
We saw one of the youngsters on our wire this am…put some food out..but he wasn’t interested. We just stood under him for a few minutes and talked to him. Hopefully he’ll be back in the yard soon, enjoying some tasty treats. I know Mama taught him that our yard was good for that :)

CA August 3, 2009 (7:47 am)

So sad, I enjoyed seeing her anytime I drove/walked thru. I always told people about her, since I hadnt ever seen a crow that color she was unique. So sad the heat of all things took her soul. RIP.