Corvid Captured

Seán Moran investigates indoor ornithology.

- Seán Moran

It’s not a typo: I’m talking about the biological genus Corvid, rather than the COVID we’ve been enduring. At times like these, the consolations of philosophy can help to restore our peace of mind. And the corvids – the crow family – have some surprising philosophical relevance.

My photograph, taken in Mumbai, shows a heart-warming daily ritual for feral dogs. This retired sailor spends most of his small pension from the Indian Navy feeding streetwise canines. They gather at the same spot every day, anticipating his arrival with chicken and fish scraps for them. But the pariah dogs (from the Hindi for ‘outcast’) are not the only beneficiaries of his kindness. Behind him, a cheeky crow is helping himself to a free lunch.

The dogs give structure and purpose to the man’s day, which begins with an early morning trip to the Mumbai docks for cheap offcuts; back home for breakfast; then off on foot to his lunchtime distribution spot. In return, the dogs receive nourishment. Being a devout Hindu, he is keen to polish up his karmic profile in his final years. He hinted to me at some unspecified naughtiness in his naval days, and his service to these outcast canines is an atonement for that. But the bird is a free rider in the transaction. Brother crow is just an opportunist.