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How to Befriend Crows

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Re: How to Befriend Crows

#91

Post by Lio »

phillc73 wrote: post #23

My Mum did this with magpies in Australia. She lives alone in a small rural town and started feeding these two magpies, that seemed to like her garden, with small pieces of meat. Over the course of a couple of years, the magpie pair even brought their chicks along for a free feed. At one point there were six or seven regular breakfast guests. One of the original magpies would practically eat our of my mother's hand,…

That's pretty cool. Aussie magpies have a ferocious reputation[1] so kudos to your Mum.

We have lots of magpies where I live and I've always wanted to make friends with them but they're both timid and obviously pretty smart so very hard to get near here.

1. https://gplama.com/2022/09/01/the-worst-magpies-ive-ever-enc...

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#92

Post by starkd »

geocrasher wrote: post #31
starkd wrote: post #20

First read this as "how to befriend cows". So, inevitably surprised on visiting the site!

Oh man, cows are awesome. They're smart, lovable, and even playful. And when they reach a certain age, they're even edible . What's not to love?

yes, I'd rather befriend a cow than a crow. Who's going to do the blog post?

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#93

Post by Waterluvian »

There’s two blue jays that live in the forest my house is in. A squirrel was once giving them a hard time. They were on the fence squawking away as the squirrel kept rushing them then retreating. I let one of my cats out who executed the perfect hunt on the squirrel that had no clue my cat was there. After ten mins of proud trotting and wanting inside, I convinced my cat to drop the squirrel, which ran off.

I want to say this was the beginning of a jay/cat alliance but nothing came of it. The jays are around all summer though which is nice.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#95

Post by b112 »

anthomtb wrote: post #88
maxbond wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hummingbirds I've noticed are very curious about other creatures. To a fault even, mantises will sometimes exploit this to catch hummingbirds (they are much more powerful than you might expect). I don't know if this is universal across hummingbird species/groups, but I'm able get very close to them by just patiently standing still by the feeder for 10 or 15 minutes, and they'll start investigating me.

I have noticed this about hummingbirds as well. We have a feeder on our deck and if you are out there when they are feeding expect to receive an inspection. I like to think the thought in their brain is “are you a flower?” I’ve also had a hummingbird come within a few centimeters of landing on my hand while mounting biking (stopped, of course). I credit my new-at-the-time bright red gloves for that interaction.

Most hummingbirds are opportunistic eaters, and also eat insects.

Such as knats and such, which love humans.

So they may be looking for a meal, too.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#96

Post by busyant »

prox wrote: post #21
wpietri wrote: post #5

I can vouch for this approach. I lived in the territory of a couple of ravens (close relatives of crows; just as smart and twice as large) and it took me maybe 18 months to build a close relationship. I started out just talking to them and throwing whole peanuts (roasted, unsalted) on the ground while I was doing it. They looked at me warily and did not come close. Later on, the peanuts would disappear, but I was nev…

My amateur theory is that talking makes you less likely to be a predator. You basically say “here I am”, Predators tend to be quiet and sneak up on their prey. I think the tone does indeed help somewhat in my experience.

> talking makes you less likely to be a predator

For a second I thought I was dead. But, when I heard all the noise, I knew they were cops. Only cops talk that way. If they'd been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I would've been dead.

-Henry Hill, Goodfellas

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#97

Post by IntrepidWorm »

parentheseus wrote: post #25
starkd wrote: post #20

First read this as "how to befriend cows". So, inevitably surprised on visiting the site!

Advice/Accounts on how to befriend crows has been submitted here in the past, but there hasn't been anything regarding cows, unfortunately. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Oddly enough, cows seem to enjoy big band and jazz.

https://youtu.be/lXKDu6cdXLI

Now that's some cultured dairy!

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#98

Post by aidenn0 »

082349872349872 wrote: post #28
prox wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My amateur theory is that talking makes you less likely to be a predator. You basically say “here I am”, Predators tend to be quiet and sneak up on their prey. I think the tone does indeed help somewhat in my experience.

I have an amateur theory that strange wildlife, unlike strange people, are made much more comfortable by avoiding eye contact. Parent comment would explain this observation: predators gaze upon their prey. (flipping the arrows around, I've seen the advice to dance tango, not so much with "snappiness" as is popularly supposed, but in a predatory manner: slow stalking, interspersed with rapid pounces)

Every bird I've interacted with prefers when I look at it from one side, or barring that, closing an eye; I think two eyes on it screams "predator"

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#99

Post by tomxor »

oasisbob wrote: post #42
prox wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My amateur theory is that talking makes you less likely to be a predator. You basically say “here I am”, Predators tend to be quiet and sneak up on their prey. I think the tone does indeed help somewhat in my experience.

Makes sense to me. Crows have caught me tree climbing under them during their evening flights to the communal roost, the result was always a chaotic mess. They just couldn't leave it alone. Without fail, eventually one crow would notice and start the alarm call, then the hundreds of crows arriving at the situation would break off flight and begin mobbing as well. I must have seemed very novel and sneaky. https://yout…

I sometimes end up crossing paths with birds while rock climbing. You try to avoid them where possible (especially if they are protected/endangered) but it's not always possible to spot them from the ground. Peregrines will warn you by swooping past you really fast, even if you are 10s of meters to the side of their nest.

It can sometimes end up in a weird kind of stand off, where they can see your path is through their nest or perch but they don't really know what your intent is so you just end up staring at each other. The most aggressive I came across was a big seagull, which I'm pretty sure was protecting it's eggs since it clearly wasn't going to move, thankfully that line was easy enough that I could just figure out an alternate way around. Climbing you also sometimes get to see some of the horrific remains from the predators - One time towards the end of covid lockdowns some peregrines had reclaimed a pinnacle due to the unusual absence of climbers. When I got to the top it looked like a sacrificial temple, filled with the carcases of all the other bird species, not to mention the bees nest en route, that one was a mini adventure.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#100

Post by seunosewa »

joe__f wrote: post #82

I saved a blackbird's life once. He was flying low across the road near my house and I saw him get hit by a car. So I went over to stand in the road and make sure the other cars coming drove around him, and I picked him up. One of his eyes was bloody where he'd been hit, and he was stunned and very distressed. I kind of just knew what to do, I held him in my hands by the side of the road for a few minutes which I thi…

I feel bad to have to say that he may have been snacked on by a predator. If he could fly, he would probably have flown while you were there.
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