Every week @nelinoeva hosts a fun contest in the Feathered Friends Community. This week's theme is Bird with Open Beak.

There is a crow family I call The Parkers that I have been feeding every day. Their young have avian pox and I've been giving them supplements to help boost their immune systems and help them hopefully overcome the disease. (You can read more about this family here.)
Sometimes when I feed them other crows will show up. The adult crows know to respect territory boundaries, particularly when food is involved, but the curious fledglings don't always know the rules.
The other day someone else's kid showed up to partake in the feast. The Parker Parents had put up with their intrusion long enough. They chased the baby around, which was interesting to watch, but what fascinated me most was this series of displays they made.

I am fairly certain that this is the father on the left and the juvenile helper crow on the right.

Helper crows are usually the children from the previous year's nest. They stick around for a year to learn how to build nests and raise babies.

Their actions were very theatrical.

Not being an expert, I can't say for certain what the display meant, but I know it was triggered by the presence of the uninvited youngster at their scrambled egg feast.

There was a good deal of vocalization and blinking displays.

At times it looked like the father was pretending to chase the helper away.

And the helper actually did hop away, as though the father had scared her. But she continued to vocalize alongside him.

It looked to me like play acting. And it seemed to work. The outsider baby eventually left.

I've seen adult crows act very aggressively toward one another over issues involving territory and food rights, including fighting and pecking and pulling out feathers. But they are much gentler around the younger crows. They understand that kids don't know all the rules yet, and are willing to teach without causing harm. Again, I cannot say for certain that this is what was happening. It's also quite possible that the display was meant to teach their own young about chasing off intruder crows. Perhaps it was a lesson for everyone!
It was certainly a lesson for me. One that I appreciated very much!

Thanks for checking out my entry to the #smap contest! You can use the link at the beginning of the post to see the rules if you want to enter. It ends Sunday, so you still have time. Your pictures don't need to be professional quality, either, just fun and/or interesting.

instagram: @se_pdx_crows
A percentage of this post's rewards goes back to support the community.

A photo of young "Borgie" Parker. You can see around his eye and heel how the avian pox creates growths on their skin.