その日、近くの港の埠頭の先端に行って、友達のカラスさん（雄）と1年ぶりのご対面。カラスさんの縄張りに入るとすぐに飛んできて私の背後のフェンスに止まったようで、その影でカラスさんがそこにいるのに気がつきました。
That day, I went to the end of a wharf at a nearby port and met my crow friend for the first time in a year. As soon as I entered his territory, he (I knew it was male) seemed to fly over and perch on the fence behind me without my noticing. I became aware of his presence by his shadow.
友達カラスと私 My crow friend and I
私の注意をひくために前方のガードレールに移動して、こっちを見ながら「いつものようにお菓子をおくれ」と言ってます。
The crow moved to the guardrail in front of me to catch my attention. He was staring at me, saying "give me some snacks, as usual."
テレビ番組で、カラスは人の顔を覚え識別もできて、その記憶が２，3年は続くというのを見てたので、1年ぶりの私を覚えてるのも納得ですが、やはりカラスは賢いと感心しました。
I had watched a TV program where researchers had found that crows can memorize human faces, recognize individuals, and retain those memories for a couple of years. So it was natural that he memorized and recognized me after a year of no sighting of me. But experiencing that in person made me realize once again how intelligent crows are.
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最初にこのカラスを見たのはその日の2年前です。高い木のてっぺんに止まって道路を見下ろしてました。埠頭の先端にある道路なので、いつも人影はなく、たまに工場の敷地のフェンス沿いにとまっている車が2、3台、中でドライバーが昼食か昼寝をしてたのだと思います。私はそこへはときどき水鳥、特に渡り鳥を撮るために歩いて行ってました。
I first saw this crow two years before that day. It perched on the top of a tall tree looking down at the road. Being at the end of a wharf, the road was always deserted, occasionally with only a few cars parking along the fence of a factory premise, and the drivers were probably having lunch or taking a nap in their cars. I would sometimes walk there to photograph water birds, especially migratory ones.
ある日、カラスさんを見たとき面白いアイデア、というか実験が浮かびました。バッグからお菓子を取り出し（鳥さんを撮るときはいつもバッグにお菓子とペットボトル）、カラスさんの気を引くためにそれを宙に高く掲げ、こちらを向いてるのを確かめてから道路の上に置いて、10メートルほど下がってカラスの行動を観察。
One day when I saw the crow, an interesting idea or experiment popped up in my mind. I took out a piece of snack, which I usually have in my bag with a bottled drink when photographing birds. Then I held it up high to catch the crow's attention, and once I was sure the bird was looking my way, I placed it on the road near the tree. Lastly, I stepped back about 10 meters and observed the crow's behavior.
思った通り、カラスさんはお菓子のそばに降りてきて拾って食べました。これが最初の私達の関わり合いで、カラスさんは私の顔を食べ物をくれる人間として覚え、それ以後、私を見るとそばにやってきてこちらを見つめてきます。こんな風に行動するのは私に対してだけです。そこにはたまに釣人がいることがありましたが、カラスさんがその人達に興味を示してるのは見たことありません。釣人が食べ物をくれないのを知ってたからです。
As I had expected, the crow landed close to the snack, picked up, and ate it. This was the first interaction between us, and he memorized my face and recognized me as a human giving him food. After that, when he saw me, he came near, staring at me. He behaved that way only with me. Occasionally, there were several anglers around, but I'd never seen him show any interest in them. He knew that anglers would give him no food.
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お菓子実験の次の年、コアジサシを撮りにそこに行くと同じカラスが飛んできたので、前の年と同じことをし、カラスも同じ反応を返しました。なぜそのカラスが1年前に見たカラスとわかるのか。答えはシンプルです。そこにはそのカラスさんの相棒（雌）のカラス以外、他にカラスがいないからです。カラスは繁殖の時期には縄張りを持つ鳥です。埠頭の先端はその番（つがい）の縄張りで、他にカラスはいないのでした。
The next year of the snack experiment, when I went there to photograph little terns, the same crow flew over me. I did the same as the year before, and got the same response from the bird. How did I know it was the same bird I saw the year before? The answer is simple: there were no other crows there except for its female mate. Crows are territorial birds in their breeding season. The end of the wharf was their territory, and there were no other crows around.
それでは、番の雌雄はどう見分けるのか。２羽の求愛給餌とそのあとの行動を観察することで性別が判別できます。一羽しか飛んで来なくてもそれが雄だとわかるのは、必ず雄が先に来てたからです。
So, how was I able to distinguish between the male and female in the crow couple? I observed their courtship feeding and subsequent behavior, which allowed me to identify their sexes. Even if only one bird flew over, I was able to tell it was the male, as the male always arrived first.
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下の写真は、上の写真のカラスさんです。車内にいる私を草陰から見てますが、以前有名だったテレビ番組「家政婦は見た！」を連想します。その番組、一度も見たことないんですけど、笑。
The picture below is the same crow in the pictures above. He was looking at me sitting in my car from behind the grass, which reminds me of a once-famous TV program "The Housekeeper Witnessed It." I've never watched it, though (haha).
近くの港の埠頭の先端にはたまに車で行くこともありました。カラスさんは車の中に人がいることを知っていて、食べ物をもらったことのあるドライバーの車も識別できてました。私の車に飛んできたし、トラックのほうに飛んでいって窓越しにドライバーから食べ物をもらうのを見たこともあります。
I occasionally drove to the end of a wharf at a nearby port. My crow friend there knew that there was (were) human(s) in a car. On top of that, he could identify the cars whose drivers had given him food. He would fly over my car, and I saw him flying toward a truck and got some food from its driver through the window.
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最初にそのカラスさんと知り合ってから鳥の撮影をやめるまでの3年の間、コアジサシの季節だけの顔合わせでしたが、カラスについていろいろ知ることができました。もう虹の橋を渡ってると思いますが、どんなふうに鳥生を終えたでしょうか。いつもの塒（ねぐら）で安らかに息を引き取れましたように。
During the three years from when we first met and when I stopped photographing birds, I learned a lot about crows even though we met only in the little tern seasons. He has surely crossed the rainbow bridge by now, and I wonder how he ended his bird life. I hope he passed away peacefully at his usual roost.
（英文が原文で、日本語はその訳文です）
（The English text is the original.）
（All photos by Hakusekimatori）
