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How to Befriend Crows

fediscience.org

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Re: How to Befriend Crows

#171

Post by hackernewds »

zestyping wrote: post #164

This was my pandemic hobby as well. After I consistently offered peanuts for a couple weeks, a crow couple would visit my balcony daily. In the springtime, they had a fledgling, and the whole family would come over, which was adorable. I trained them to open containers, and then put out puzzles of increasing difficulty for them. Here's a video of one of them solving a couple of puzzles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?…

That is incredible adorable and impressive. Next they can open jars and bring home coins from the tip jars in exchange for treats :)

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#172

Post by mark-r »

dtgriscom wrote: post #156
dreamcompiler wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can go outside holding a feeder and as long as I stand still, after about a minute the hummers will feed while I'm holding the thing. Brave little birds.

Nasty little birds. We put out a feeder, and they battle each other for it, even when there's plenty for all. It's a good thing they don't decide to gang up on humans; they could do a lot of damage while we're still looking at where they were a hundred wingbeats ago.

I saw a hummingbird attack a squirrel once. Nasty indeed. I suspect the squirrel was getting a little too close to its nest.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#173

Post by bothandeach »

tasty_freeze wrote: post #10

My wife set up a bird feeder on our floor to ceiling glass windows in our living room -- it is a plexiglass module with suction cups. It was nice seeing the birds, but it was really entertaining watching the squirrels trying to get the food. At first she tried to thwart the them, but in no time started recognizing the squirrels as individuals and noticing their personality and behavioral differences, and gave them na…

Bless her, and you

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#174

Post by jakzurr »

Retric wrote: post #132
lisper wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are quite a few symbiotic relationships in nature. Yes, of course, but unless such a relationship is already established the odds are very much against a random encounter between different species being mutually beneficial.

The interesting bit around cleaning is the relationships are between individual animals rather than being species wide. Some species of fish for example will mix in removal of parasites with drinking some blood and larger animals eating the cleaners also happens.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cleanerfish

These things are incredible. (Or incredibly mean?)

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#176

Post by eyelidlessness »

mcbits wrote: post #170
eyelidlessness wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is definitely true for dogs/canids, eye contact is a signal of dominance and/or aggression. It’s common advice to soften your glance if you’re approaching an unfamiliar or potentially aggressive dog. It’s also helpful to make more direct eye contact when establishing you’re in charge when training them. I’ve also noticed with many birds that they prefer indirect attention. This includes not just eye contact, but…

The birds around here don't stick around long enough to let me earn their trust, but I can get pretty close to the deer, rabbits, and squirrels just by pointing the camera off to my side so I'm standing perpendicular and appear to be focused on stuff on the ground instead of them.

Oh damn I meant to mention rabbits! At least the ones around me don’t even mind if I point a camera at them so long as I’m looking another way. So I have lots of good blurry or poorly aimed rabbit photos. They really do seem to believe that if they go totally still nothing can see them until proven otherwise. And maybe they’re right, I almost always have to tell my pup “there’s a bun!” And even then it’s usually after I’ve directed her chase before she sees the fleeing things.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#177

Post by dssagar93 »

My entire family has befriended crows. I live on the 3rd floor. When the crow comes in, we feed them with hands directly. He takes the food right from our hand and eats it slowly. This worked out simply because we started feeding them daily. Initially they used to just run away but we kept giving food and slowly they started trusting us.

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#178

Post by fsckboy »

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…

> 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)

Here's the thing. You're suggesting a raven is as intelligent as a crow. Are they in the same family? Yes, Corvus. But scientists who study crows, will tell say, specifically, crows are smarter than ravens. But it would be okay for either of us to just admit we're wrong, you know?

https://crowadvice.com/crow-vs-raven-intelligence/

Re: How to Befriend Crows

#179

Post by femto »

Lio wrote: post #91
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...

The technique I have used for the magpies in my backyard is: leave them alone. Eventually they learn that you are not a threat and quite happily continue their everyday business even if you're nearby, without turning into a demanding pest.
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