The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year is a 2013 nature-infused memoir-in-essays by Margaret Renkl. The collection, which blends nature writing, memoir, and environmental meditation, chronicles the turning of the seasons through the lens of backyard ecology and personal reflection. Blending quiet environmental observation with lyrical meditations on aging, loss, and kinship with the natural world, Renkl offers a deeply rooted celebration of life’s cycles. The book includes full-color artwork by her brother Billy Renkl, underscoring its intimate, seasonal structure.

This guide uses the 2023 Spiegel & Grau edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death and animal death.

Summary

In The Comfort of Crows, Margaret Renkl documents a year in her suburban backyard in Nashville, Tennessee, observing the natural world and narrating events as they unfold. The book is structured around the seasons, starting in winter, moving through spring, summer, and fall, and ending with the return of winter. Each chapter represents a week in this year, interspersed with occasional lyrical interludes. Renkl reflects weekly on what she sees and experiences in her yard, focusing on animals, plants, weather, and changes in the environment.

Renkl opens the year in midwinter. Her backyard is quiet, and the trees are bare. She watches a pair of crows who visit regularly, reflecting on their behavior and interactions. She describes the crows eating from the compost pile and appearing to mourn a dead crow. Cardinals and other winter birds visit the feeders; Renkl notes their songs returning as the days begin to lengthen. She watches a red-shouldered hawk fly across the yard and sit high in a tree. When a brown thrasher reappears, Renkl recalls how long the species has nested in her yard. A cold snap descends, and a layer of ice covers the ground. She notes that the robins have returned in a large flock, foraging for berries and worms. The hellebores begin to bloom even as frost covers the grass, and Renkl describes their slow unfurling. She sees signs of the red fox that sometimes passes through the neighborhood. A pair of bluebirds begins investigating the nest box in the yard. Snow falls briefly. A squirrel drags a dried corn cob up a tree, and a mourning dove sits on a branch, puffed up against the cold.

As the weeks pass, signs of spring appear. The buds on the trees swell, the first daffodils arrive, and the song of the Carolina wren becomes more insistent. Earthworms return to the soil surface, and more birds begin singing in the early morning. Renkl spots the first honeybee of the year, hovering near blooming crocuses. The bluebirds begin nesting in earnest. Tree frogs sing at night, while redbuds and dogwoods begin to bloom. Renkl finds a squirrel nest torn apart by the wind, and she rescues a baby bird that has fallen from its nest, placing it back in the branches. A rabbit returns to forage near the fence. Dandelions spread across the lawn, and the crows remain regular visitors. Chickadees gather nesting material, and Renkl watches a female carrying tufts of fur into a birdhouse. Rain falls for days, saturating the ground.

Renkl reports the first appearance of lightning bugs. The irises bloom. She watches a mockingbird chase away a hawk. At night, a raccoon visits, leaving muddy paw prints near the compost bin. Bees, butterflies, and wasps appear in larger numbers. She observes skinks basking on warm rocks, and a pair of house finches builds a nest on the porch light. The flowers shift from spring blooms to those of early summer. The crows begin to visit less frequently. Young birds fledge and flounder in the yard before learning to fly. To help protect them, Renkl avoids mowing. She finds a dead bird, likely killed by a hawk. At the same time, Renkl reckons with the dawning reality that her children are now grown up. They’ll soon leave the family home, and she reflects on the future.

Renkl listens to cicadas and watches dragonflies skim the grass. A black rat snake crosses the patio. The rabbits multiply, and juveniles forage for clover. She describes how the bluebird fledglings leave the nest and perch on low branches. The mockingbirds raise another brood, while cardinals feed their young in the shrubbery. Renkl finds feathers strewn on the lawn (evidence of a predator) but has come to accept nature’s brutality as necessary.

The heat intensifies, a sign of the more intense weather that climate change brings. In the garden, Renkl grows tomatoes and peppers. She notes the abundance of goldfinches now feeding on thistles. The lawn browns under the sun, and she waters the garden in the early morning, careful not to wet the leaves. She thinks about politics and her work, as well as her private fears and tragedies, but the natural world is a place where she can escape. Renkl records days of extreme heat. The birds go quiet. She puts out shallow dishes of water, which birds, squirrels, and insects all visit. The rabbits shelter in the shade, and the crows reappear briefly during the heat wave. She spots a downy woodpecker feeding its young at a suet feeder.

Renkl notes that the hummingbirds have become more aggressive, chasing each other away from the feeders. The nights stay warm, and she sleeps with the windows open, listening to katydids. A storm brings temporary relief, and the power goes out briefly. Fallen branches litter the yard. Checking the birdhouses, she finds empty nests. A brown thrasher returns to the garden and begins foraging in the mulch. A new brood of bluebirds appears. Renkl notices fewer insects now; monarchs pass through, stopping to rest and feed, but the species is endangered. Renkl fears that the building of suburban homes threatens to destroy local ecologies. The rabbits are almost fully grown. The goldfinches feed on seed heads, and she leaves the garden untrimmed to support them.

The squirrels dig holes in the lawn, caching acorns, which may grow into oak trees. A pair of pileated woodpeckers flies across the yard. Near the compost bin, Renkl finds a dead mole, likely dropped by an owl. Cicadas are still singing, but the sound is fainter. She sees the crows again, foraging in the early morning. The heat lingers into September. Hummingbirds feed constantly, preparing for migration. The first brown leaves fall from the oaks, later than usual, due to the long, intense summer. Rain returns, and the grass revives as dew covers it. The mornings are cooler. She hears the crows calling and sees them gathering. The hummingbirds disappear, though monarchs continue to pass through. The trees begin to change color. Renkl notes the shift in light and air. She rakes leaves into piles, leaving some for overwintering insects.

A frost arrives, and the annuals die back. Renkl cleans out the garden and cuts back the perennials. She fills the feeders with sunflower seeds and suet. Cardinals, juncos, and chickadees return in larger numbers. The sky darkens earlier each day, and a barred owl calls at night. The deciduous trees lose the rest of their leaves. A red-bellied woodpecker drills into a dead branch. Renkl walks the yard each morning, listening for movement. The cold deepens, and the last of the garden dies off. The days are mostly gray, and the yard is quiet. Cardinals and titmice dominate the feeders, and a squirrel builds a new drey in the crook of a tree. Renkl watches the clouds for signs of snow.

The book closes as winter sets in. The cycle of life in the yard continues: Birds feed, rabbits nest, and trees rest. The crows are still there, watching. The year ends where it began, in the quiet stillness of the backyard, where Renkl observes and documents the steady rhythms of the natural world.